Moving to Ireland from New Zealand

Ireland has no digital nomad visa that we could find, so the routes are the working holiday (ages 18 to 30), a job offer with an employment permit, independent means on Stamp 0, 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, which is about NZ$102,100 at the ECB rate of 15 October 2026) 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. The Embassy of Ireland in Wellington prints no figure and no page for Stamp 0, so there is no embassy figure that differs; the immigration service page is the only source we found. As a New Zealander 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.

You apply to the Embassy of Ireland in Wellington (or London or Canberra if you live in the UK or Australia) with a fee of 120 New Zealand dollars, two photographs, a passport valid at least three months after you plan to leave Ireland, and evidence of personal access to a set minimum balance plus a return ticket (to be safe, have more than 2,600 New Zealand dollars), or a larger set minimum balance (to be safe, have more than 5,100 New Zealand dollars). The embassy says the usual processing time is 15 working days. The authorisation must be activated by arriving within 12 months of issue, cannot be extended, and a second application is refused whether or not the first was used. The immigration service says places are limited and you cannot apply from inside Ireland; once there you apply for an Irish Residence Permit card, and we found no fee for that card on the New Zealand pages. Past the working holiday, you need an Irish employer. Before you work in Ireland for more than 90 days you must have a contract of employment and the right work permission. A Critical Skills Employment Permit needs a two-year job offer. 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. 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.

Ireland is on New Zealand's list of apostille countries (37 New Zealand dollars for one certificate in 15 working days, or 120 New Zealand dollars in 5 working days). 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 needs the form, fee receipt, two photographs, your original passport, evidence of funds and a self-addressed track-and-trace return envelope. New Zealand is on the Irish list of nationalities that do not need a visa to land in Ireland, and the Atlas Visa Map records New Zealand as visa free for 90 days. The immigration service says you can visit for less than 90 days, and its border page says the immigration officer decides how long you may stay, up to a maximum of 3 months, and can refuse entry. A Schengen visa is not valid for Ireland, which is not party to the Schengen Agreement, so New Zealand's older bilateral visa waivers with some Schengen states do not apply to Ireland. Ireland does not take part in the EU Entry/Exit System, so a trip straight to Ireland is outside it; we did not research how Irish days and Schengen days relate, or how the Schengen border treats a trip that starts there. We found no Irish electronic travel authorisation for visa-free visitors on the pages we read. 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 New Zealanders. A New Zealand citizen needs a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation or a visa to visit the UK, including 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. The Embassy of Ireland in Wellington prints visa fees only for people who need a visa and says nothing about Stamp 0. To stay beyond 90 days you need permission first: a working holiday authorisation, a Stamp 0 approval letter or an employment permit, then registration with immigration within the 90 days. The working holiday takes about 15 working days at the embassy and Stamp 0 takes about four months.

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. New Zealand treats you as resident if you have a permanent place of abode there (a place you usually live, even if you rent it out while you are away) or are there more than 183 days in a 12-month period, and you stop being a resident taxpayer only if you have no permanent place of abode and are away more than 325 days in a 12-month period. If both countries count you as resident, the New Zealand-Ireland convention (Article 4) decides: first the country where you have a permanent home, then where your personal and economic relations are closer, then where you have a habitual abode, then your nationality, and the two tax authorities settle it if you are a national of both or neither. Arrival and departure dates need counting under both systems.

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 New Zealand taxes.

Under it, income from independent professional services is taxable only in the country where you are resident unless you are present in the other for more than 183 days in a 12-month period or have a fixed base there. Salary can be taxed in the country where the work is done; it stays taxable only in your country of residence if you are in the other country 183 days or less in 12 months, the employer is not resident there and the pay is not borne by the employer's permanent establishment there. Pensions and annuities for past employment are taxable only in the country you live in, but pensions under a country's social security law may be taxed by the paying country. Each country gives a credit for the other's tax on income from sources there, subject to its own credit rules. The text does not say how these rules apply to a remote worker who lives in Ireland and is paid by a New Zealand employer, so that is a question for an adviser. If you do become a non-resident taxpayer in New Zealand you can still owe New Zealand tax on New Zealand-source income, and you should update your bank so the right non-resident withholding tax is taken.

To get NZ Super while living in Ireland you need at least 1 year of continuous New Zealand residence from age 20 and you must intend to live in Ireland for at least 26 weeks; Work and Income says to contact its International Services team at least 4 weeks before you leave on the Ireland page and 6 weeks on its general page, so allow the longer. The agreement's Article 5 lets the Irish authority exempt a New Zealand citizen sent to work in Ireland by an employer based in New Zealand from Irish employment contributions for up to 12 months, which can be extended; we found no rule for someone who moves on their own, so whether Irish PRSI applies to you is unknown. New Zealand has reciprocal health agreements only with Australia and the United Kingdom, so none covers you in Ireland. The government KiwiSaver contribution needs you to live mainly in New Zealand; after a year living overseas (not in Australia) you can withdraw most of your savings, but not the government contributions. You are overseas-based for a student loan if you are in New Zealand 31 days or fewer in a 184-day period, and the loan then stops being interest-free.

On the working holiday you apply for an Irish Residence Permit card as soon as possible after arriving, and the embassy page gives no fee for it; we did not find that fee stated for Stamp 0 either, 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.

Stamp 0 separately requires private medical insurance with full cover in private hospitals. We found no dated price for such a policy, so that cost is unknown.