Ireland to issue record number of work visas to non-EU citizens in 2016

The number of work visas issued by the Republic of Ireland to non-EU citizens in 2016 is set to reach an all-time high. In 2015, about 7,353 work visas were issued to migrants from non-EU countries by Ireland. It is estimated that the number work visas to be issued this year will be well over 9,000. The first four months of 2016 saw 2,160 work permits being issued by the island country to people from Non-EU nations. This is 20 percent higher than the number of visas issued during the same period in 2015, according to the official figures released recently. Commentators are of the view that this spike in work permits from Ireland is due to the fact that the economy of the country is growing. The top five recruiters availing this Irish work visa permit scheme are HSE, Google, Intel, Infosys and Accenture. Countries drawing the most number of applications under this scheme are the US, India, Brazil, Pakistan and Israel. In fact, the number of applications received from India in the first four months of 2016 was four times of that from America. Edwina Shanahan, Visa Consultant, said that increasing demand for work visas of Ireland was probably because of the improving business and economic climate. Although Ireland has an impressive workforce with talent and qualifications in many areas, it lacks skilled workers in sectors, such as IT and foreign language proficiency. This gap is being filled by foreign workers, said Shanahan. According to Shanahan, financial services’ sector in Ireland also badly needs a lot of skilled workers. Indians with skills in sectors of IT and finance, and also those with foreign language proficiency ought to look at Ireland for migrating through work visas. Y-Axis, with its 17 offices across India, has the wherewithal to help all these skilled people file for visas in a methodical way.