FOR EMPLOYERS
Hiring international healthcare workers
Healthcare is one of the few sectors that splits cleanly across both permit routes: qualified clinical roles sit on the Critical Skills list, while care and support roles run through General Employment at a reduced salary floor built specifically for them.
Clinical roles: Critical Skills Employment Permit
Every role below is on the Critical Skills Occupations List, which means the €40,904 threshold applies (with a relevant degree) instead of €68,911, and there is no Labour Market Needs Test to run first.
Care and support roles: General Employment Permit at a reduced floor
Healthcare assistant and home support worker roles are not on the Critical Skills list, but they get a specific carve-out in the General Employment Permit's own salary rules: €32,691 a year rather than the usual €36,605 general minimum. The Labour Market Needs Test still applies to these roles in most cases, so build the 28-day advertising window into your timeline.
A permit is not a licence to practise
An employment permit only covers immigration status to work. Regulated clinical roles (nurses, doctors, midwives, pharmacists and others) separately need registration with the relevant professional body, such as NMBI for nursing or the Medical Council for doctors, before they can practise. That registration process runs independently of the permit application and is frequently the longer of the two, so it is worth starting well before the permit itself.
Next: run the numbers on a specific hire
See the full decision framework for choosing between Critical Skills and General Employment, or the end-to-end hiring process from eligibility check to approved permit.