The question regarding Stamp 4 and residency, many thanks in advance!

[Amn45]

Many, many thanks in advance for your reply and reading this post - much appreciated!

I would very much appreciate your advice regarding one question that I have.

Namely, I am not an EU citizen and I have found an employer in Ireland who has sponsored my Employment Permit (general) which I received and which is valid from August 2022. until August 2024. I am still waiting for my visa appointment at the embassy (because I need to get work visa as well) and won't be in Ireland before October 2022.in the best case scenario.

Now, I like to think ahead and I know that employment permit can be given for a maximum of 5 years, not more, and after that it is envisioned that the person will apply for the stamp 4, if they are to continue working/living in Ireland.

The problem is that, in order to apply for the stamp 4, one needs to have 60 months of reconable residence which is counted from the moment when one comes to Ireland and applies and receives the card (not from the dates on employment permit or work visa). If I want to stay longer, it seems that I won't be able to because even if I get full 5 years on employment permit, I won't have full 60 months of residence in Ireland, so I won't be able to apply for the stamp 4.

Please let me know if I am understanding it right, because based on that I will make a decision that will impact my whole life.

I thank you again very, very much for your help,
Kind regards

[littlerr]

You are interpreting the regulations too literally. It not about having ‘60 months’ instead of ‘59 months’.

It’s about that you work for the same employer with valid General Employment Permits for 5 years. You will be able to apply for a Stamp 4 or a Renewal Employment Permit, depending on your scenario, when your Stamp 1 is about to expire.

And take it easy. No job decision can or should take up your whole life. If you are legitimately working with a valid permission, you won’t have any issue.

[Amn45]

Thank you very much for your reply; however, this is the first question that one would have when applying for the stamp 4 - do you have 60 months of reckonable residence - so I dont think they are easy and lax about it, even if I can try to be:-)
Well, and agree that no job should impact the whole life, but for me here it does. If I go somewhere where I cant stay longer than 5 years, I will not be able to use retirment/pension that I contributed to through taxes, plan long-term future, or go someplace where I would actually have a chance to stay/immigrate
Nonetheless, thanks again for your reply - much appreciated

[CatBrom]

People base citizenship upon their Stamp 4 all the time. I think. Might be worth looking at some of the threads on here about people’s citizenship applications or permanent residency based on their stamp 4s.

[Amn45]

Thank you very much for your reply, however the issue I am concerned about is that I wont be able to get the Stamp 4 in the first place, because I can have employment permit for a maximuum of 5 years but my reckonable residence will be less than 60 months in spite of my employment permit(s) being 60 months because my work visa was processed later, so the date of my arrival and registering in Ireland will be 2 months later than the dates for which my employment permit is issued and there is no renewal after 2nd time.
Thanks nonethrless, much appreciated:-)

[mentalmind]

To correct and give more information on the occasion:

If you are consecutively employed and resided in Ireland for 5 years (so after your 5th residence permit card and it's time to get 6th one) you get Stamp 4 after having Stamp 1 for 5 consecutive years. I arrived and registered in Ireland in June 2016, my work permit started on May 2016. At June 2021, I got stamp 4 based on working and living in Ireland consecutively for 5 years.

There is nothing like you can get work permit only for 60 months or 5 years. You can get work permit how long you want. I got work permit for 7 years and on my 6th year of my work permit I switched to Stamp 4. And the durations of my work permits were 2 years + 3 years (same employer) and then I asked my new employer to get me 2 years of work permit, but I didn't need to use last year of it.

And to fix your statement

The problem is that, in order to apply for the stamp 4, one needs to have 60 months of reconable residence which is counted from the moment when one comes to Ireland and applies and receives the card (not from the dates on employment permit or work visa).

You have to be working consecutively every year after you are in Ireland, so if you come to Ireland in 2022, you need to be employed at 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and only then you can get Stamp 4 on 2027.

If you are on Stamp 1 = you need work permit. If you somehow switch to Stamp 4 by, getting married with Irish or Eu citizen, or obtaining critical skills etc etc then you won't be in need of work permit. If you have on going work permit when you get stamp 4, then it won't cause any problem, as you won't need it anymore.

I didn't get the citizenship part of your question so have no comment about it.

[Amn45]

Many, many thanks! So relieved to hear this!
I was confused because on the government website for employment permits (I have general employment permit) it said that they can be issued for a maximuum of 5 years (2 initial plus 3 years second permit) and after that they are no longer issued - one needs to apply for the stamp 4, but due to the discrepancy (coming later to Ireland and establishing residence one/two months later than the date on my employment permit) I would have around 58,59 months, so no way to get stamp 4 and no way to renew employment permit. Or so I thought from reading that.
I had no question about citizenship, just this - stamp 4 as a way of establishing long-term esidency and not having to interupt my work/life in Ireland.

Many thanks for your first hand experience - it means so much! I can't thank you enough reallyMany thanks to all the others who responded as well!
All the best, have a great day