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Green cards for skilled foreign workers
By Harry McGee
THE first Irish “green cards” for foreign workers will be issued early in the new year, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin has confirmed.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner, the minister said that the regulations providing for the green cards will be signed into law during January.
The scheme, first revealed in this newspaper last year, is designed to attract high-skilled foreign workers to this country. It is the first time that Ireland has introduced a residency card that does not require the immigrant to get sponsored by an employer.
The minister expected that as many as 10,000 people from all over the world would avail of the scheme when it was fully operational — with a take-up of about 5,000 in the first year.
The new scheme would be split into two categories. The first is targeted at those with potential earnings of over €60,000 with high skills who would not need a sponsoring employer.
The second is a new work permit provision for workers with an earning potential of between €30,000 and €60,000 who are required for sectors with specific skill shortages. These include the IT and computer industries as well as pharmaceuticals.
Those in the second category coming in with the new green card would have a work permit for two years, not one year as in the existing scheme, and would also be allowed to change employers. “The whole idea of the Green Card revolves around the area of high skills,” said Mr Martin.
He pointed to other key areas, including engineering, technology-related specialities, scientists, as well as specialised sales and marketing professionals.
He also said that his department would be clamping down on students who were ostensibly coming into Ireland to do short courses, but were in reality arriving to find work.
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