Working and settling in Ireland as a social care worker
Registration with CORU (Health and Social Care Professionals Council) comes first, and we prepare and file it; the visa after it is the Irish government's decision.
We prepare and file; the regulator decides.
Credentis Global prepares and files
You are here
Fit check
Registration with CORU (Health and Social Care Professionals Council)
Credentis Global prepares and filesThe government decides · with a licensed adviser
A job offer and the General Employment Permit, or the Stamp 4 permission (after a Critical Skills Employment Permit) from home
Arrive and start
The government decidesSettle
The government decides
Is your occupation wanted here?
What the Irish government's own lists say about social care workers.
- Not listed
Critical Skills Occupations List
Social care workers do not appear on the list.
Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) · Critical Skills Occupations List (CSOL) · read 5 Oct 2026
- Not stated
Ineligible Occupations List
The list names no “social care worker”, but it excludes nearby codes such as 6146 senior care workers and 3239 other welfare and housing associate professionals, each with stated exceptions.
Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) · Ineligible Occupations List (IOL) · read 5 Oct 2026
What the official pages leave open
- No official Irish page states in terms that immigration advice is unregulated; the adviser line records that DETE’s and the immigration service’s pages name no licensing scheme.
- The CSOL and the IOL show no publication date; DETE states the current CSOL took effect under S.I. No. 444 of 2024.
- DETE does not state which SOC code it applies to a social care worker, so whether the role falls on the Ineligible Occupations List is not stated.
Two lanes after registration.
Both are the government's routes, named as it names them.
We prepare and fileRegistration with CORU (Health and Social Care Professionals Council)
With a job offer · the government decides
General Employment Permit
A General Employment Permit needs a job offer from an employer registered and trading in Ireland, for an employment that is not on the Ineligible Occupations List, and a minimum salary threshold applies. A Labour Market Needs Test is required in most cases, and DETE requires registration or recognition of qualifications by the relevant CORU registration board for this employment.
Registration requiredYes
Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) · General Employment Permit · read 5 Oct 2026
On your own · the government decides
Stamp 4 permission (after a Critical Skills Employment Permit)
DETE describes the Critical Skills Employment Permit as designed to encourage holders to take up permanent residence, and holders can later apply to the Department of Justice for Stamp 4 permission. Ireland’s official pages name no points-based or independent route from outside the State; every lane they describe starts with an employment permit and a job offer.
Registration requiredNo
Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) · Critical Skills Employment Permit · read 5 Oct 2026
Immigration steps are decided by the Irish government and handled with a licensed adviser. Ireland has no licensing scheme for immigration advisers: DETE’s employment permit pages name none, and an application is made by the employer or the employee, who may name an agent. We handle the registration that comes first. Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) · Employment Permits · read 5 Oct 2026
The numbers.
Published figures, named at source. The sentence under each chart is the publisher's own.
CORU registrants by profession, end of 2025
6,044 registrants
Social workers · 2025
CORU registrants by profession, end of 2025
Unit: registrants
| Category | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Physiotherapists | 7,455 |
| Social workers | 6,044 |
| Social care workers | 4,501 |
| Occupational therapists | 4,132 |
| Radiographers | 3,975 |
| Medical scientists | 3,508 |
| Speech and language therapists | 2,674 |
| Dietitians | 1,796 |
| Optometrists | 1,116 |
| Radiation therapists | 619 |
| Podiatrists | 597 |
| Dispensing opticians | 228 |
International applicants recognised by CORU in 2025
Unit: applicants recognised
| Category | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Physiotherapists | 822 |
| Social workers | 481 |
| Radiographers | 294 |
| Occupational therapists | 188 |
| Medical scientists | 159 |
| Dietitians | 88 |
| Speech and language therapists | 83 |
| Optometrists | 68 |
| Radiation therapists | 24 |
| Podiatrists | 21 |
| Dispensing opticians | 14 |
| Social care workers | 14 |
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for a social care worker in Ireland.
Recognition first, then registration
CORU recognises your qualification before it registers you. we map your syllabus, placement hours and scope of practice to the Irish standard, so the recognition file answers what CORU reads.
Every document, in the order the regulator reads it
Each item is checked against the regulator’s own list: names matched to your passport, hours in writing, copies certified by the person the list names.
One portal, and a person who answers
Upload your documents, see every stage of the file and message us in one place. The person who replies is the specialist preparing your file.
We prepare and file. The regulator decides.
Your application goes in from your own regulator account with every page prepared, and every query is drafted against the regulator’s exact question.
One specialist owns your file
The specialist who reads your documents builds the file and answers the regulator’s queries. You always know who has it, and you pay the regulator directly.