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Legal professionals wanting to work in Ireland... sadly we have had very limited feedback over the years on people coming to Ireland to practice Law. Obviously the legal systems are different and as such you would need to consider some studying and exams to be eligible.
We have asked numerous times for people who have done it, and the feedback is very slim.
As such, the advice and opinions below is speculation unless otherwise specified (information on work permit skills lists as per the date this article was published).
If you and or your spouse has an Irish/ EU or British passport your entry and residency status is not dependant on your career. You are free to do whatever work you choose in Ireland. You may therefore to remain in the Legal field, do the studying and exams or you may choose it to be a career change point and venture into something new.
If however, you and your spouse are South African (or other Non-EU passport holders) you will need to seek out work permits.
The information below applies first to all passport holders in terms of contacts for investigating practicing law in Ireland, or seeking out other avenues in similar work.
Then at the lower part of this article is the information on Eligibility for work permits.
1. Contacts:
If you are a lawyer who holds a qualification from outside of the Republic of Ireland and you would like to practise in the Republic of Ireland jurisdiction, see below for the steps you need to follow.
Your first and best point of call to see if you can get your qualifcations read, converted and registered. Their advice will be best on all passports
2. Other people who have gone before you on our Facebook page
have recommended some of these qualifications/career options:
ICSA qualification (Corportate Governance) Known locally as a Company Secretary (CoSec), not to be confused with the lovely front office or back office support staff who do admin/reception/typing/filing, this is a middle to upper managment positions involved in applying various aspects of local and international laws and a Business or Corporation falling into alignment with those.
You can try get work in Corporate Governance:
Accountant Online- Company Secretary
Charted Governance Uk and Ireland
Other courses or qualifications to look at:
CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist ) examination
GSSK (Certified Global Sanctions Specialist)
CKYCA (Certified Know Your Customer Associate)
3. Work Permit seekers
All that being said you will need to look at what skills are or are not eligible for a work permit
Work PermitsThe information now will completely depend on qualifications, what the job offer is and where it falls on the Eligibility of that career in Ireland's skills lists. This is neither to put you off nor encourage your further investigations, simply informative.
As at 19 July 2021 the Skills list has the following information:
Legal associates SOC code 3520- these are INELIGIBLE for a work permit
Ineligible list of careers:
Legal Professionals SOC code 2419- These are General work permit eligible positions (once qualified, registered etc)
These careers fall neither on the Critical skills list, nor on the ineligible list, so that makes it General work permit eligible. As such the conditions of the GWP are adherred to (50:50 rule, Labour Market Needs test and Dependants) If the renumeration offered is over the EUR64k could possibly be a Critical skills list eligible.
Possible others:
Corporate Governance seem to fall under:
2429: BUSINESS, RESEARCH AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS
These careers fall neither on the Critical skills list, nor on the ineligible list, so that makes it General work permit eligible. As such the conditions of the GWP are adherred to (50:50 rule, Labour Market Needs test and Dependants) If the renumeration offered is over the EUR64k could possibly be a Critical skills list eligible.
The SA2Eire team welcomes anyone with actual experience in this field, particularly when it comes to work permits, to email us with their comments, advice and experiences. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Important links:
#MapMyMove- Our coaching Services - Confused or lost and need some direction, book a session with us to help untangle the confusion and work out your route of immigration
