Immigration Service Delivery (ISD)

The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration says its Immigration Service Delivery unit is responsible for decisions about who can visit, study or live in Ireland, and who is entitled to international protection and temporary protection. Its website, irishimmigration.ie, is the official source for visas, residence permissions, the stamp system and citizenship. Older pages, including some regulator websites, still use the former name INIS (Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service). The site also has a residency calculator, useful when you count reckonable residence for citizenship, and a glossary of immigration terms.

Three bodies decide different parts of your move:

• Your regulator, such as NMBI, the Medical Council or CORU, decides whether you can practise.
• DETE issues employment permits, which decide whether you can work for a given employer.
• ISD decides whether you can enter and stay, and records that permission as a stamp on your Irish Residence Permit.

1. Entry visa. If you are visa-required, DETE says you apply for an entry visa after your permit is granted, using the online form on irishimmigration.ie.
2. Registration. Within 90 days of arrival you register your permission, usually Stamp 1, at ISD's Registration Office at 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2. ISD took over registration from the Garda National Immigration Bureau on 13 January 2025. The fee is €300 unless you are exempt.
3. Renewal. You renew online up to 12 weeks before your card expires.
4. Family. Spouses and partners apply to join you and are usually registered on Stamp 1G.
5. Stamp 4. After 21 months on a Critical Skills permit you apply to ISD for Stamp 4. DETE says that since 30 November 2023 you no longer need a support letter from DETE for this.
6. Citizenship. ISD also decides naturalisation applications, where reckonable residence on your stamps counts.

ISD works mainly online. You book registration appointments and raise queries through your ISD Customer Service account, and renewal applications go through a separate online forms portal. ISD publishes weekly updated processing dates for renewals by stamp category, which is the best guide to how long you will wait. Check the news page on irishimmigration.ie for office closures and changes. The Burgh Quay office is wheelchair accessible, and you can ask for a translator or other support through your Customer Service account before your appointment.

• Asking the wrong body. NMBI and RCSI say they cannot answer visa questions; DETE handles permits, not residence.
• Missing documents. Incomplete renewals go to a slower queue and are refused if you do not reply within 14 days.
• Letting permission lapse. Renew before expiry so there is no gap in your residence.
• Treating renewals as one. Renewing your employment permit with DETE does not renew your IRP with ISD, and the reverse is also true. Track both expiry dates.