Moving to Ireland from the US

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, 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 a US 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.

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 US-Ireland Working Holiday Authorisation is for US citizens over 18 who are in full-time post-secondary education or graduated in the past 12 months. It lasts up to 12 months, cannot be extended, needs a bank statement showing access to a set minimum balance (to be safe, have more than 1,600 US dollars) and costs 295 US dollars on the Washington page (the Department's general page still says 270 US dollars). 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 needs a US passport valid a full year after entry, a CV with two references, proof of study or graduation, a bank statement and, at the second stage, return tickets and travel or medical insurance. US citizens do not need a visa to land in Ireland and may stay up to 90 days for tourism or business. An immigration officer at the port decides your length of stay and 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 US citizens. Each country decides your permission at its own border. A US citizen needs a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, 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. 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. The US foreign earned income exclusion's physical presence test needs 330 full days abroad in 12 consecutive months, so 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 the US taxes.

The United States and Ireland have an income tax treaty signed at Dublin on 28 July 1997, in effect from 1 January 1998 and amended by a convention effective 1 September 2000. Its saving clause lets each country tax its own citizens and residents as if the treaty did not exist, so the treaty does not remove your US filing. The treaty's tie-breaker, if both countries treat you as resident, runs permanent home, then closer personal and economic ties, then habitual abode, then nationality. The United States allows a credit for Irish tax, and US social security payments to a resident of Ireland are taxable only in Ireland.

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.

We found no dated price for such a policy, so that cost is unknown.