The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment quietly refreshed its processing-times dashboard in the early hours of 12 November, giving employers and foreign staff fresh visibility on Ireland’s work-permit backlog. As of today, Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP) files submitted on 23 October are being examined, while new General Employment Permit (GEP) applications have reached 13 October. Renewal cases sit at 21 September and reviews or appeals remain stuck in early May. Although the headline figures show the CSEP waiting list shrinking to roughly three weeks, mobility practitioners caution that internal security checks and the ongoing portal-outage investigation can still add unpredictable delays. The department’s separate notice on the 5 November data-security incident reassures stakeholders that back-office processing continues, but agents report sporadic requests for resubmitted documents. For time-sensitive transfers, companies are therefore prioritising the trusted-partner channel and intra-company transfer (ICT) permits, which the dashboard shows are only three weeks in arrears. Sectoral demand remains intense: technology, life-sciences and healthcare employers account for more than 70 % of CSEP traffic, according to figures shared informally by consultants. With Christmas recruitment drives looming, practitioners fear that any further cyber-related disruption could push approvals into January, jeopardising project timelines and tax-year planning. In practical terms, HR teams should pad assignment start-dates by at least six weeks, ensure medical-insurance evidence is current, and remind assignees that a valid Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card must still be presented at border control even if the underlying permit is approved digitally. The department is expected to publish its annual update on minimum-salary thresholds next month, and mobility managers are already modelling budgets for the scheduled 2027 increases.
