Stamp 4 immigration permissions – eligibility update

From 3 April 2024, certain employment permit holders (Critical Skills Employment Permits and Researchers on Hosting Agreements) can apply to change their immigration permission from a Stamp 1 to a Stamp 4 based on 21 months of employment in the State and not from the date of first registration. This is an important change in circumstances where individuals may often enter the State on an employment permit and take up employment immediately; however, they might not be able to register their immigration permission for a number of months which has often negatively affected the date upon which they could apply for a Stamp 4 permission.

General Employment Permit holders can now obtain a Stamp 4 permission after 57 months as opposed to 60 months. The Immigration Service Delivery (the “ISD”) have confirmed that the time spent on a General Employment Permit is not interchangeable with the time spent on a Critical Skills Employment Permit or Hosting Agreement.

This is welcome news for employers and employees as certain applicants have required further employment permits to bridge any possible immigration gaps before they could apply for a Stamp 4 permission. With this new ISD policy, employees may no longer require ‘bridging’ employment permits. This lowers the risk of an employee’s immigration permission lapsing and means that employers do not have to incur an additional employment permit processing fee.