Coming To IRELAND
Ireland is the seventh largest provider of wholesale financial services in Europe
The financial services sector employs approximately 35,000 people and contributes two billion euro in taxes annually to the economy. Ireland is the seventh largest provider of wholesale financial services in Europe. A number of these firms are located at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Dublin.
Coming to Ireland to complete your education and get work experience Irish work and study visa options explained
The Options
- ACCA members: Two year renewable critical skills work visa
- ACCA members and affiliates: one year full time masters with two years stay back work visa.
- ACCA affiliates: up to four
year work visa to work in
accounting roles. - ACCA students: up to four Year full time accounting
work and part time study visa. - ACCA students: up to four year part time work and full-time study visa.
Summary of the requirements for Non-EEA (excluding UK and Ukraine) ACCA members, affiliates and students to come to Ireland:
| Option | Status | Accounting job offer | Non-accounting work | Length of stay | Can convert to: |
| 1. | Member | Required | n/a | Two years extendable | Citizenship after five years or Green card |
| 2. | Member or affiliate | Third year required, year one and two allowed | First two years | Three years (two years if not doing accounting type work) | Option 1 |
| 3. | Affiliate | Max four Years | n/a | Four years | Option 1 0r 2 |
| 4. | Registered student with any degree | Max four Years | n/a | Four years | Option 1, 2 or 3 |
| 5. | Registered student | n/a | 20 hours max | Four years | Option 2,3 or 4 |
EEA, UK and Ukrainian students, affiliates and members have visa free travel and a right to work in Ireland with no preclearance required. EEA, UK and Ukrainians just have to register for taxation purposes at www.revenue.ie for a Personal Public Service (PPS) number prior to starting work.
Option 1
Two year renewable critical skills work visa for ACCA members.
This visa is open to ACCA members wishing to come and work in an accounting role in Ireland. See this link for more details. The process is to obtain a job offer from an Irish employer in one of the areas listed as having a skill shortage. The skills shortage list is updated occasionally and currently includes members of ACCA with ‘compliance, regulation, solvency or financial management or related and relevant specialist skills, qualifications or experience’ (Category 2421).
The critical skills visa is issued for two years and is renewable and after five years can under certain circumstances be upgraded to full Irish citizenship or can be converted to a stamp 4 visa or ‘green card’. The full application process usually takes a minimum of 12 weeks (Oct 2022) and is a two-step process. Applications from a conflict zone usually take two additional weeks.
Step one
An Irish employer makes a job offer to a non-EEA ACCA member. Once the job offer is accepted, the Irish employer makes an application for the permit on the prospective employee’s behalf.
The application processing can take six weeks and once the job on offer is one that is listed on the critical skills shortage list and the paperwork is all correct, a work visa will then be issued.
Step two
Once the work visa has been issued, the employee applies for a residency permit. The permit will be applied for as an individual but also allows for a spouse and children to accompany the applicant and come to Ireland as well. This process can take up to six weeks but is generally quicker when applied for from an Embassy as opposed to a Consulate. Spouses accompanying the critical skills visa applicant, can in certain circumstances apply for a permit to allow them work while in Ireland. Residency visas from a conflict zone will take on average two weeks longer to obtain.
A critical skills visa is for a fixed two year contract, it is very difficult for an employee to change employment during that period. Typically, the critical skills visa is rolled over with the same employer or with a different employer or converted to a ‘green card’ until eventually the employee decides to return to their home country or apply for Irish citizenship or continue to work under the green card status.
Option 2
One year masters with up to two years stay back work visa for ACCA members or affiliates
There are a number of one year full time Masters programmes available in Ireland which offer the option of working part time during term time (up to 20 hours) and working full time outside of term time and working for up to two years in a relevant employment after the course is completed. See this link for more information. At the end of the two year stay back period, an ACCA member could seek to change to a critical skills visa, Option 1 on this information sheet. An ACCA affiliate should be able to obtain almost enough work experience to convert to full membership in the term time working and during the two years stay back period. Most of the programmes come with integrated work placement. The alumni from these courses report that the teaching and work placement allowed them to greatly improve their business English and localise their experience. Alumni report that they can find employment after the courses and were then more easily able to convert to a critical skills visa after their two year stay back visa expired.
Although all courses entry requirements differ slightly, the basic requirements to be accepted onto one of these courses are:
Be an ACCA member or affiliate
Proof of English Proficiency
Proof of funds or a bond
Obtain a student visa (see below)
Colleges and Universities where the masters programme is available:
Griffith College Masters in Accounting and Finance
- ATU Masters in Governance & IT in Financial Services
- ATU Master of Arts Accounting
- ICD Postgrad Diploma in Accounting and Financial Services
- ICD Masters in Accounting & Finance.
Option 3
ACCA affiliates: Up to four year work visa to work in accounting roles. This visa is open to ACCA affiliates wishing to come and train in an accounting role towards getting their ACCA experience. The requirement is the same as a student seeking to complete their exams part time and working full time (a stamp 1A visa). The main requirement is to obtain an employment offer from an Irish employer in a trainee accountant role. The application process is:
Get an exam status report from ACCA (from accaglobal.com and self-serve from myacca) showing that you have passed all your ACCA exams.
Have a trainee accountant employment contract from a Irish employer.
Proof of funds or a bond.
Have a letter of good standing from ACCA (self-serve on myacca).
Obtain preclearance for your visa if you are a national of a preclearance required country.
Register for a Stamp 1A visa on arrival if you are a national of a non-preclearance required country.
This visa can be upgraded to a critical skills visa once the affiliate is accepted for full ACCA membership. Subject to certain conditions, the critical skills visa can then be upgraded to Irish citizenship after five years.
Option 4
ACCA students: up to four year full time accounting work and part time study visa.
This visa is open to people who have registered as ACCA students in their own country and have a trainee accounting position with at least a one year contract and are graduates.
Get an exam status report from ACCA (from accaglobal.com and self serve from myacca) showing you have achieved the minimum entry to ACCA studies (any recognised degree will qualify for minimum entry requirements for ACCA).
Have a trainee accountant job offer from a Irish employer for a minimum of one year contract.
Have signed up for part time ACCA tuition.
Proof of funds or a bond.
Have a letter of good standing from ACCA (self-serve on myacca).
Obtain preclearance for your visa if you are a national of a preclearance required country.
Register for a student working visa on arrival if you are a national of a non-preclearance required country.
Progress in the exams, passing at least two exams a year.
The full list of approved ACCA tuition providers in Ireland is here.
Option 5
ACCA students: up to four year part time work and full-time study visa
This visa is open to people who have registered as an ACCA student.
Get an exam status report from ACCA (from accaglobal.com and self serve from myacca) showing you have achieved the minimum entry to ACCA studies (any recognised degree will qualify for minimum entry requirements for ACCA)
Have signed up for full time ACCA tuition
Proof of funds or a bond
Have a letter of good standing from ACCA (self-serve on myacca)
Obtain preclearance for your visa if you are a national of a preclearance required country
Register for a student visa on arrival if you are a national of a non-preclearance required country
The full list of approved ACCA tuition providers in Ireland is here.
Dublin Business School and Donegal Education and Training Board (ETB) offer full time ACCA education. Other providers may also offer full time education as well. However, it is also possible to do a degree in Ireland that also qualifies for a study visa and that degree can give up to nine ACCA exemptions. The student can transfer from the degree to the final level of ACCA either under scheme 5 (full time study and part time work) or 4 (part time study and full time relevant (accounting) work.
Obtaining a student visa (option 2, 3, 4 and 5)
How to apply for long term study visa. Nationals of some countries need a visa prior to arrival and nationals of other countries do not, see Visa-and-Non- Visa-Required-Countries. Both have the same basic requirements, but non-visa waiver countries need to apply for preclearance to travel in advance and non-visa required countries do not need to apply for their visa in advance but need to have the various documents with them on arrival. Locations on the list that do not require preclearance include Hong Kong (SAR), Australia and New Zealand, USA, Malaysia, Ukraine and of course all EEA countries are on this list. Locations on the list that require preclearance includes most African countries, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, India, and Afghanistan.
Students, whether they apply in advance for preclearance or on arrival, will need:
Proof of English language proficiency (Duolingo or similar) and
Have proof of having registered and paid for their chosen course:
> for the masters programme that will be supplied by the college who have their own acceptance criteria.
> For ACCA students that will require:
– An exam status letter from ACCA saying you are a current student (self-serve from my ACCA on accaglobal.com) and
– confirmation from an Irish approved learning partner that you have enrolled in ACCA professional exams tuition
– Full details of the accounting training schemes are here.
Have proof of funds (or a bond) to show that they can support themselves during the course of study. Note that some bond companies will refuse to provide the bond to certain nationalities where their country is subject to sanctions or other financial services restrictions. ACCA does not have a solution for the unbanked or those living in a country with a non-functioning banking system or in a country subject to financial sanctions.
Working while studying
On the full-time masters programmes, students can work 20 hours per week during term time and work full time outside of term time (eg midterm break and vacation periods). They also qualify for an up to two year (stamp 1G visa) full time work visa after their studies if they secure a relevant to their study job (ie an accounting job).
ACCA students can work up to 20 hours in any employment while studying full time. Students that obtain a relevant employment (accounting type work) can change to a stamp 1A visa and study ACCA part time and engage in full-time work. While on the 20 hours work regime, the immigration authorities police this quite strictly and will cancel a visa for people who breach the rules or who for example attend less than 85% of their classes or fail to progress in their exams.
ACCA listed providers
STATUS | INSTITUTION NAME | WEBSITE | Accept International students |
Platinum ALP | No | ||
Platinum ALP | www.dbs.ie/ACCA/Association-Charterered-Certified-Accountants.htm | Yes | |
Platinum ALP | TBA | ||
Platinum ALP | Yes | ||
Platinum ALP | No | ||
Gold ALP | No | ||
Gold ALP | No | ||
Silver Learning Partner | No | ||
Silver Learning Partner | No |
Dublin Business School ACCA Full time for International Students
Full-time ACCA tuition at DBS is €6,000 for papers SBL, SBR, P4/AFM & P7/AAA ( 2024 )
You must complete the ACCA Fundamental Papers (F1-F9) before registering on this ACCA course. You may check your eligibility for direct entry to the ACCA Professional Stage – Part 3 studies via the this link
Critical Skills list of Ireland
Accountants are included in Critical Skills list of Ireland
Category : Business, Research and Administrative Professionals
- Chartered and certified accountants, and taxation experts specialising in tax, compliance, regulation, solvency or financial management or related and relevant specialist skills, qualifications or experience.
- Qualified accountants with at least three years’ auditing experience, who are full members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and whom have relevant work experience in the areas of US GAAP reporting and Global Audit and Advisory Services and the employment concerned is in MNC Global Audit Services.
- Tax consultant specialising in non-EEA tax consultancy and compliance with a professional tax qualification or legal qualification with tax specialism, and has a minimum of three years’ experience of tax consultancy requirements and regulations in the relevant non-EEA market.
Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure that this summary is correct, the visa schemes change occasionally, and colleges change their courses offering. This document is no substitute for reading the most up to date requirements on the Government immigration website and contacting the colleges mentioned directly. You are advised to check the latest up to date visa situation prior to making any relocation plans and prior to travelling. We would also strongly advise that matters such as temporary accommodation on arrival and longer-term accommodation be attended to carefully as accommodation in Ireland can be difficult and expensive to secure.
This information sheet is for guidance purposes only. It is not a substitute for obtaining specific immigration advice. While every care has been taken with the preparation of the information sheet, neither ACCA nor IEO accept any responsibility for any loss occasioned by reliance on the contents.
To apply Irish Institutions to study ACCA or Accountancy related degree programs contact.
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