Moving to Ireland: Expat Guide to Living, Working & Visiting (2026)

Ireland sits in an unusual spot for anyone moving to Europe: it's a full EU member but stays out of the Schengen Area, runs its own immigration system, and shares a Common Travel Area with the UK. That combination makes it simpler in some ways (English everywhere, no Schengen day-counting) and quirkier in others (separate visa rules, no nomad visa, brutal housing). This guide is for two kinds of reader — people relocating to live and work in Ireland, and long-stay visitors planning weeks or months on the ground. It covers visas, money, healthcare, transport, where to live and where to go, with the EU-versus-non-EU split kept clear throughout.

Visas & residency

The first fork is your passport.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens have full free movement. You can move to Ireland, live there indefinitely, work, study or start a business with no visa and no residence permit. There is no 90/180 limit on you, and you don't "register" with immigration the way non-EU arrivals do. In practice you'll still want a PPS number (Personal Public Service number — the Irish tax and social-services ID) to start a job, and you should register with a GP. See our EU free movement guide for how these rights work across the bloc.

UK citizens are covered separately by the Common Travel Area (CTA) between Ireland and the UK. You can live, work and access services in Ireland without immigration permission — a legacy arrangement that survived Brexit.

Non-EU/EEA citizens face Ireland's own rules, and this is where people trip up. Crucially, Ireland is not in Schengen, so your time here does not burn Schengen days and a Schengen visa won't get you in. Two scenarios:

• Short visits. Many nationalities are visa-exempt for short stays and can typically enter for up to around 90 days (the immigration officer sets the exact limit at the border). Visa-required nationals need a short-stay 'C' visa in advance. Either way, this is for tourism or business visits — not living or working. Because Ireland isn't in Schengen, the EU's Schengen 90/180 rule and the upcoming ETIAS travel authorisation apply to Schengen countries, not to Ireland.
• Staying longer than 90 days. You need an immigration permission. Visa-required nationals first apply for a long-stay 'D' visa (for work, study, family or other purposes) through Immigration Service Delivery. Once in Ireland and granted permission, you must register within 90 days and obtain an Irish Residence Permit (IRP) — the physical card that proves your status. The IRP registration fee is around €300 per adult (check the official source, as fees and exemptions change). First-time registration is now handled centrally through Immigration Service Delivery via its online appointment portal.

Your permission is described by a Stamp number, which dictates what you can do:

Always confirm the current stamp conditions for your situation with ISD before relying on the table above — categories and conditions get revised. If you're coming from outside the bloc more broadly, our overview on moving to Europe from outside the EU maps the wider landscape.

Cost of living

Ireland is expensive, and the expense is concentrated in housing. Outside rent, day-to-day costs are roughly comparable to other high-income Western European countries.

Rough monthly budgets (one person, rent included), as approximate 2026 ranges — verify current figures locally before you commit:

Groceries for one person run roughly €300–€450 a month; a monthly transport pass in Dublin is in the low tens of euro range; a pint and casual dining are noticeably pricier than most of the continent. The headline problem is supply: rental stock is tight, competition is fierce, and good listings move in days. Budget generously and don't assume you'll find a place quickly. For context against other capitals, see our average rent in European cities for 2026.

Money & banking

To open an account with an Irish high-street bank (AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB) or a digital bank, you'll typically need photo ID (passport or national ID), proof of an Irish address (a lease, utility bill or official letter), and increasingly a PPS number. The address requirement is the classic chicken-and-egg trap: you need an account to settle in, but proof of address to open one. Digital-first banks tend to be more flexible on documentation than the legacy branches.

Before your Irish account is live — and for the first weeks when you have no local proof of address — a multi-currency account bridges the gap. Wise and Revolut let you hold and convert EUR, GBP and other currencies, get a card you can spend with immediately, and move money in at the real exchange rate rather than a marked-up bank one. Revolut in particular has deep penetration in Ireland and is widely used for everyday spending and splitting bills. Ireland is in the SEPA zone, so euro transfers to and from other SEPA countries are cheap and standardised — see our explainer on SEPA for expats and the Wise vs Revolut comparison for Europe to decide which fits your pattern of spending.

A practical sequence: arrive with a funded multi-currency account, get your PPS number and a lease, then open the local bank account once you can satisfy the address check.

Healthcare & insurance

Ireland runs a two-tier system: a public health service delivered by the HSE alongside a large private sector and private insurance market. Public access is tied to residency, not citizenship.

If you are ordinarily resident — living in Ireland and intending to stay at least a year — you're entitled to public health services. The catch is that public care is not uniformly free: most people pay subsidised fees for GP visits and some hospital charges unless they qualify, by income, for a Medical Card (broad free care) or a GP Visit Card (free GP visits). Apply through the HSE. Many residents also carry private health insurance (VHI, Laya, Irish Life Health) to skip public waiting lists.

EU/EEA visitors should carry the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), which covers medically necessary state care during a temporary stay on the same terms as a local — useful for short trips, not a substitute for residency-based cover. Our EHIC guide explains what it does and doesn't cover.

Non-EU arrivals are the gap. You're generally not covered by the public system until you're ordinarily resident and registered, and a long-stay visa application may itself require proof of private medical insurance (Stamp 0 holders, for instance, must hold it). For the window between landing and being plugged into the system — and for visitors with no EHIC — travel or expat medical insurance closes the exposure. Don't fly in uninsured assuming you'll sort it later; an unplanned hospital visit before you're covered is a real bill. Our European travel insurance guide covers what to look for.

Getting around

Within cities, public transport is decent in Dublin and patchier elsewhere. Dublin has the Luas (tram), DART (coastal rail) and an extensive bus network, all payable with the contactless Leap Card or, increasingly, tap-to-pay. Cork, Galway and Limerick rely mainly on buses. Real-time info and journey planning live on Transport for Ireland.

Intercity travel is run by Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann) — fast enough between Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Belfast, though the network is radial (most lines fan out from Dublin) rather than a dense grid. Bus Éireann and private coach operators like Aircoach and Citylink fill gaps and are often cheaper than rail.

For getting in and out of the country, Ireland is a budget-airline hub: Ryanair is headquartered here and Aer Lingus covers Europe and transatlantic routes from Dublin, Cork and Shannon. Flights to the UK and continental Europe are frequent and cheap if booked ahead. If you're hopping around the continent, our guides on budget airlines in Europe and getting around Europe cheaply are worth a read. Note that Ireland drives on the left, and rural public transport is thin — many people living outside the cities run a car.

Working & remote work

EU/EEA/Swiss citizens can take any job in Ireland with no permit. UK citizens can work freely under the Common Travel Area.

Non-EU citizens generally need an employment permit before working. The headline routes are the Critical Skills Employment Permit (for in-demand, higher-paid roles, with a faster path to long-term residence) and the General Employment Permit (broader, with a labour-market test and a salary floor). Salary thresholds are reviewed and rise periodically, so check current figures with the Department of Enterprise before relying on a number. Permits are tied to a specific job and employer, so the standard sequence is: secure a sponsoring offer, get the permit, enter on the matching visa, then register for your IRP.

On remote work: Ireland has no digital-nomad visa. EU citizens can already live in Ireland and work remotely for a foreign employer without any special status. Non-EU remote workers have no clean route — a short visit caps at around 90 days, and Stamp 0 is a "person of independent means" permission that explicitly does not allow working for an Irish employer and comes with its own income and insurance conditions. If a remote move is your plan, confirm directly with Immigration Service Delivery whether any remote-work permission applies to you before committing. For how other countries handle this, see our digital nomad visas in Europe for 2026.

Tax residency turns on the 183-day rule: spend 183 days or more in Ireland in a tax year (the calendar year) and you're tax-resident, taxed on worldwide income. There's also a 280-day rule across two consecutive years (with a minimum of 31 days in each), and a separate concept of being ordinarily resident once you've been resident three years running. Ireland levies income tax in two bands plus the USC (Universal Social Charge) and PRSI social contributions; the bands and rates shift annually, so check current figures with Revenue. If you're earning across borders, our note on paying taxes as a remote worker in Europe covers the double-taxation basics.

Where to live

Dublin is the default for jobs (especially tech, pharma and finance) but also the priciest and tightest housing market. Within the city, the southside (Ranelagh, Rathmines, Portobello) skews leafy and expensive; the northside and inner suburbs (Drumcondra, Phibsborough, Stoneybatter) offer more value; and the DART line opens up coastal commuter spots like Bray, Dún Laoghaire and Howth.

Cork is Ireland's strong second city — a real jobs market, a walkable centre, lower rents than Dublin and a loyal local following. Galway is smaller, arty and coastal, popular with students and creatives but with its own housing squeeze. Limerick is the value play, with the lowest rents of the big four. For a wider shortlist, see our take on the best cities to live in Europe for 2026.

Renting mechanics to know: you'll usually pay a deposit (commonly one month's rent) plus the first month upfront. Tenancies are typically registered with the RTB (Residential Tenancies Board), which sets out tenant protections; Rent Pressure Zones cap rent increases in high-demand areas. Most listings appear on Daft.ie and Rent.ie. Be ready to move fast, provide references and proof of income, and expect competition for anything well-priced.

Best places to visit

If you're here as a long-stay visitor, the country rewards getting out of Dublin.

• Dublin — Trinity College and the Book of Kells, the Guinness Storehouse, the Georgian streets and a pub culture that genuinely lives up to the cliché. A good base, but not the whole story.
• The Wild Atlantic Way — the marketing name for the west coast driving route, and the best of Ireland's scenery: the Cliffs of Moher, the lunar limestone of The Burren, the beaches and peninsulas of Kerry (the Ring of Kerry, Dingle) and Connemara in Galway.
• Galway city — compact, musical and the natural launchpad for the west.
• Cork & West Cork — the city plus Kinsale, the harbour towns and the rugged southwest coast; Blarney Castle is nearby.
• The north and northwest — Donegal's wild, underrated coastline and, across the border in Northern Ireland (a separate jurisdiction but an easy day trip via the CTA), the Giant's Causeway.
• Ancient sites — Newgrange in the Boyne Valley predates the pyramids; the monastic ruins of Glendalough in Wicklow are a short hop from Dublin.

Public transport thins out fast in scenic areas, so the west and south are best explored by hire car. Pack for rain in any season — the weather is mild but reliably wet.

Practical first steps

• Language. English is the working language everywhere. Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language and appears on signage and in Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) regions, but you'll never need it to live, work or travel. English gets you 100% of the way.
• SIM / eSIM. Pick up a local SIM or eSIM on arrival — networks like Vodafone, Three and eir have prepaid plans, and Ireland's EU membership means an Irish/EU plan roams across the EU at no extra cost. For a short visit, an eSIM you activate before landing is the least-friction option.
• Must-have apps. Leap Card / TFI Live for transport, Revolut for everyday money, Daft.ie for housing, Irish Rail for intercity tickets, and a weather app you'll check obsessively.
• Emergency number. Dial 112 (the EU-wide emergency number) or 999 — both work in Ireland and reach Garda (police), ambulance, fire and coast guard.
• First admin moves. Get a PPS number early (it gates jobs, tax and some accounts), open a multi-currency account before you land, register with a GP once you have an address, and — if you're non-EU — diarise your 90-day IRP registration deadline the moment you arrive.

Ireland isn't the cheapest or smoothest European move, and the housing crunch is real. But for English-speakers, EU citizens with free movement, and anyone drawn to the west coast, it's one of the more livable corners of Europe — provided you arrive with your paperwork, your insurance and your rent budget sorted before you step off the plane.