Moving to Ireland from Australia

Ireland has no digital nomad visa that we could find, so the routes are a job offer with an employment permit, independent means on Stamp 0, a working holiday if you are 35 or under, or citizenship through an Irish-born grandparent. More than 51,000 euros a year: The immigration service says people of independent means should have an individual income at a set minimum (to be safe, have more than 51,000 euros a year) and access to a lump sum to cover sudden major expenses, equal to, for example, the price of a residential dwelling in the State. It states no figure for the lump sum, so that amount is unknown. Your finances go in a spreadsheet in euros, certified by an Irish accountancy firm; investment sums are not normally measured, so the money should be pension income or readily accessible funds. You also need private medical insurance with full cover in private hospitals and you cannot use State benefits. The page names no age minimum. As an Australian citizen you do not need a D-Reside visa: you apply for Stamp 0 first and travel with the approval letter. The figure can change, so confirm it on the immigration service page when you apply. Neither the Embassy of Ireland in Canberra nor the Consulate General in Sydney prints a Stamp 0 page or figure: their visa pages send you to the immigration service, and the Sydney page says visa applications from Australia are processed in Canberra.

For a role on the Critical Skills Occupations List the minimum salary runs about 36,800 to 40,900 euros a year, the lower figure being for a relevant degree gained in the past 12 months (to be safe, have a job offer paying more than 41,000 euros a year). For any other eligible role the minimum salary is much higher (to be safe, have a job offer paying more than 69,000 euros a year). The processing fee is 1,000 euros. Holders can apply to the Department of Justice for Stamp 4, and after 60 months of legal residence on a permit they can apply for Long Term Residency. A General Employment Permit needs a job with a minimum salary that runs about 34,000 to 36,600 euros a year, the lower figure being for a degree from an Irish college in the past 12 months (to be safe, have a job offer paying more than 37,000 euros a year). It usually needs a Labour Market Needs Test, unless the job pays a much higher salary (to be safe, have a job offer paying more than 69,000 euros a year), and at least half of the employer's staff must be EEA nationals. It is issued for up to 2 years, renewable for 3 more, with a fee of 500 euros for 6 months or less and 1,000 euros for up to 24 months, and a spouse cannot take a dependant permit. These minimums began on 1 March 2026 and rise again in stages to 2030. Your Irish employer applies, so a remote job with a foreign employer does not qualify. Two narrower routes exist. The Australia-Ireland Working Holiday Authorisation is open to Australian citizens aged 18 to 35 (we do not collect your age, so check yours). Because Australians need no visa it is an authorisation rather than a visa: you apply to the Embassy of Ireland in Canberra (or London if you live in the UK), not from inside Ireland, with a bank statement showing access to funds at a set minimum, lower if you hold a return ticket to Australia (to be safe, have more than 5,100 Australian dollars). The fee is 95 dollars (we read it as Australian dollars) or 195 for processing in 5 working days. You may work a maximum of six months with any one employer, the authorisation must be activated within twelve months of issue, is valid for no more than 12 months after you enter Ireland, cannot be extended, and a second application is not accepted. The immigration service says places are limited. The Start-up Entrepreneur Programme needs funding available at a set minimum (to be safe, have more than 51,000 euros) and an innovative business proposal, with a 350 euro application fee. The Immigrant Investor Programme, which the work-routes page still lists, closed to new applications on 15 February 2023.

For an employment permit your Irish employer files the application, and you need the signed contract of employment. For the Foreign Births Register an adult needs a signed and witnessed application form, an original civil birth certificate showing parents, 2 proofs of address, 4 photographs, and for a grandparent route the original birth certificates and marriage or name-change certificates of both your Irish-born grandparent and your parent, with certified photo ID or a death certificate for each. The Working Holiday Authorisation needs an application form, the fee, two passport photographs, your original passport valid at least three months after you leave Ireland, a bank statement, copies of educational certificates (or a letter from your college), a current CV with references and a registered return envelope, posted to the Embassy of Ireland in Canberra. Australian citizens do not need a visa to land in Ireland: Citizens Information lists Australia among the countries whose citizens do not need one, and Smartraveller says you may be granted a stay of up to 90 days on arrival, as decided by the immigration officer, who can refuse entry. A Schengen visa is not valid for Ireland, so Ireland runs its own entry rules, and we did not research how Irish days and Schengen days relate. The Common Travel Area covers Ireland and the UK, but it gives rights to Irish and British citizens, including to live, work and use services in either country, and none to Australians. Each country decides your permission at its own border. An Australian needs a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, which costs 20 pounds, including for a journey from Ireland, unless you are lawfully resident in Ireland and can show proof. The Home Office says there are no routine checks on journeys from Ireland and that people who entered Ireland from outside the area get deemed leave to go on to the UK, 6 months or 2 months on a repeat. That UK permission does not extend your Irish stay, and we found no official rule that adds UK days to Irish days or the reverse, so how repeated back-and-forth visits are treated is unknown. The British Irish Visa Scheme, which lets one short-stay visa cover both countries, is only for visa-required Chinese and Indian nationals living in China or India, so it does not apply to you. To stay beyond 90 days you need permission first: a Stamp 0 approval letter or an employment permit, then registration with immigration within the 90 days; a Working Holiday Authorisation is processed by the Canberra Embassy in about 15 working days. Stamp 0 takes about four months to process.

You are resident in Ireland for tax if you are present for 183 days or more in a tax year (1 January to 31 December), or for 280 days or more in the current and preceding tax year taken together. Any part of a day counts, and you are not resident if you are there 30 days or less in a year. You become ordinarily resident after three consecutive resident years and stay so for three years after you leave. Domicile is a general-law idea: you keep your domicile of origin unless you show clear evidence that you intend to live in Ireland permanently and not return. A resident who is not ordinarily resident and not domiciled is taxed on Irish-source income and on foreign income only to the extent it is remitted to Ireland. Whether you count as non-domiciled is a legal question for an Irish adviser. Australian law treats you as resident if you reside in Australia in the ordinary sense, if your domicile is in Australia (unless the Commissioner is satisfied your permanent place of abode is outside it), or if you were in Australia more than half the income year (unless your usual place of abode is outside Australia and you do not intend to take up residence there); a fourth test covers some government superannuation members. An ATO example says a teacher who goes to Japan on a one-year contract, rents out her home and plans to return stays an Australian resident. Your facts decide it, and leaving Australia does not by itself end residence. Australia and Ireland have an income tax agreement, signed on 31 May 1983 and in force. If both countries count you as resident, Article 4 treats you as resident only of the country where you have a permanent home available; if you have one in both or neither, of the country where you have a habitual abode; and then of the country with which your personal and economic relations are closer. Citizenship is not a step in the agreement's tie-breaker.

The Universal Social Charge is 0.5% on the first 12,012 euros, 2% on the next 16,688, 3% on the next 41,344 and 8% on the rest. We did not price social insurance contributions (PRSI) or any other Irish tax, so those are unknown.

The basis changes Irish tax only; it does not change what Australia taxes while you remain an Australian resident.

Independent work is taxable only in your country of residence unless you have a fixed base in the other. Pensions and annuities paid to a resident of one country are taxable only in that country. Each country gives a credit for the other's tax within the limits of its own law, and tax on dividends at source is capped at 15%, on interest at 10% and on royalties at 10%. How these rules apply to a person who lives in Ireland and works for an Australian employer or Australian clients, or draws superannuation, is not set out in the pages we read, so get a dated opinion before you rely on either country's view. If you do stop being an Australian resident, assets other than taxable Australian property, such as listed shares, are treated as sold at market value on the day you stop, unless you choose to disregard those gains until a later sale. The departing Australia superannuation payment is for temporary residents who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, so it is not a way for you to take super out.

Part II speaks of employers and employees and sets no separate rule for the self-employed, so which country's contributions apply to a freelancer living in Ireland is unknown: ask the Tax Office, which administers that part, and Ireland's Department of Social Protection. The rest of the agreement covers pensions: the Australian Age Pension, disability support pension for the severely disabled and widows' pensions, and Irish contributory pensions. It lets you add Irish insurance periods to Australian residence, and Australian working-life residence to Irish insurance, to meet qualifying periods, and it lets a person living in Ireland claim an Australian pension without returning. Irish non-contributory payments are not covered. Age Pension paid long-term outside Australia is generally at a rate based on your years of Australian working-life residence. We did not research whether leaving affects your Australian Medicare or state arrangements, so that is unknown.

The Working Holiday page states a 300 euro fee for the Irish Residence Permit; we did not find that fee stated for Stamp 0, so confirm it.

Revenue lists the TR1 form for registering for tax as a resident individual. We found no official page saying how long either takes, so that is unknown.

Australia has a reciprocal health care agreement with Ireland, but it is for temporary visitors: Smartraveller describes emergency treatment at public hospitals, and Services Australia's page (last updated in 2020, read from an archive copy) says care must be medically necessary, cannot wait until you get home, and falls within 12 months of arrival, with a fee for each service and no cover for GP visits or private care. The agreement is not a substitute for travel insurance, and we found nothing saying it covers someone who has moved to Ireland. We found no dated price for a private policy, so that cost is unknown.