Employment Permits Act 2006

Refusal to grant employment permit.

12.— (1) The Minister may refuse to grant an employment permit if—

(a) the applicant for the permit (the “applicant”) has failed to provide any information required by or under this Act in respect of the application for the permit (the “application”),

(b) the applicant has failed to furnish the prescribed fee with the application,

(c) the applicant has been convicted of an offence under this Act or the Act of 2003, or an enactment specified in Schedule 1 , during the period of 5 years ending on the date of the application,

(d) in the opinion of the Minister, the granting of the permit would be manifestly inconsistent with economic policy for the time being of the Government,

(e) the following 2 conditions are satisfied, namely—

(i) a period (being a period ending on the date of the application) of less than 12 months has elapsed since the foreign national concerned first commenced employment in the State, and

(ii) there is already in force, on the date of the application, an employment permit granted to the foreign national,

(f) in the opinion of the Minister, it is in the public interest to do so,

(g) a material misrepresentation in respect of the application has been made by the applicant,

(h) a forged or fraudulent document has been submitted in respect of the application,

(i) the foreign national concerned lands or has landed, or is or has been, in the State without permission,

(j) the remuneration to be paid to the foreign national concerned in respect of the proposed weekly hours of work (whatever they may be) is less than the standard working week remuneration, or

(k) the skills or qualifications specified to be required for the employment concerned, that is to say, specified to be so required by—

(i) the applicant, or

(ii) in the case of an application by a foreign national, the person who made the offer referred to in section 4 (3) to the foreign national,

are not necessary for, or relevant to, that employment.

(2) Subsection (1) is without prejudice to section 10 (2) and subsection (3).

(3) The Minister shall refuse to grant an employment permit if the granting of it would contravene regulations under section 14 in force at the time the decision on the application for the permit is made.

(4) Where the Minister refuses to grant an employment permit, the Minister shall notify, in writing, the applicant of the decision and the reasons for it.

(5) Where an application for an employment permit is refused, the Minister shall return to the applicant such portion, as may be prescribed, of the fee that has been submitted in respect of the application.

(6) In this section “ standard working week remuneration ” means the weekly remuneration that the foreign national concerned would receive if he or she were to work 39 hours each week at—

(a) the national minimum hourly rate of pay, or

(b) if the hourly rate of pay provided for in an employment regulation order or a registered employment agreement that applies to the employment concerned is greater than the national minimum hourly rate of pay, the hourly rate of pay provided for in that order or agreement.