Moving to Ireland Starter Pack
Moving can be stressful, and with so much to focus on it can be hard to find the time to do all of the research before you arrive in Ireland about finding work, securing long term accommodation and getting your paperwork in order.
We want you to be as sucessful as you possibly can be here in Ireland, and we want your move to be seamless and give you less to worry about so we’ve put together some information for you on how to do the basics once you arrive, to set yourself up for sucess. Here are some of the most important how to’s for moving to Ireland!
How to find accommodation:
Finding accommodation in Ireland won’t be a walk in the park, as you may have already noticed if you’ve started your search. Apartments in the cities like Cork and Dublin are few and far between and can get expensive, if your school offers accommodation as part of their package we suggest you take it if you can.
If you need to find your own accommodation there are the two main website’s we use in Ireland for that:
Click here for a link to our PDF with QR codes for more options, be careful with the Facebook groups!
Here are some rules you should follow when searching for accommodation in Ireland:
- Check the location on google maps- make sure its real
- Have contact with the landloard directly and not just a tenant
- Search the name of your contact on Facebook accommodation groups to make sure no one mentions them in a scam
- Visit the property in person and have and check the keys before handing over any money
How to find a job:
Finding work in Ireland will be easier than finding accommodation. The type of work you will be able to do will depend of course on the experience you bring with you to Ireland and your professional backround, your level of English and if you are a non-EU student. It will also depend on whether you have your GNIB card yet.
Once you have your GNIB card (if you need one) and are prepared to work you can start searching for jobs three ways:
- Online on job websites
- Recruitment agencies
- Door to door with your paper resume
Here are the main Irish job websites:
- Indeed.ie (you can make a CV and download it from here)
- Linked In (you should set up a linked in account first)
- Jobs.ie
You can also use recruitment agencies to help you find work, here are some local Cork options. They send you straight into jobs so you do need to have your PPSN before you contact them:
Your third option for finding work is to take your resume on paper and go to the companies in real life amd hand your resume to the manager. This might work well if you have friends working in those places already who will make sure you resume actually gets to the boss.
If you are studying English you might be looking for casual part time work only or for flexible working hours so you might be looking into the security, food, hospitality or healthcare sectors. Some of those jobs have some basic training requirements where you might need to get a certificate or take a short course first.
If you do those trainings before you apply to the jobs, it will really help with your application and give you an advantage. You should do some research on what types of courses you can do for those jobs, and we will also give you links here for places that offer that type of training:
- The Noel Group Training
- Skillsnet (Training for things like manual handling)
- HSE Land (Training for things like chemical safety to be a cleaner or care work)
- FETCH
- ICSE security training
How to get a PPS number:
You can apply for a PPS number either online, or in person using certain documents.
You can apply online on this website:
You’ll need to make an account on this website first though, and use those logins to log into the first one:
It’s sort of like when you want to log into a website or use a new app on your phone, and it asks you if you want to login using facebook or your gmail, you use your My Gov ID account like its a facebook account to log into the My Welfare and make your application. If you live in Ireland long term, you will use the My Gov ID for other stuff too like orgnaising a dirving licence or doing your taxes.
You can also take your documents and go to your local PPS office in person and wait in the queue to be seen by an advisor. This is the location of the PPS office in Cork city:
Here are the documents you need to give when you apply for a PPSN:
- Proof of your address in Ireland
- Scan of your ID/passport
- Proof of the reason you need a PPSN (usually a job offer)
The ideal situation is that you apply for jobs, you get a job offer in writing and then you apply online or in peron for a PPSN using that written offer of empolyment as one of the documents you need.
What often happens however is that while you are applying for jobs, employers will reach out and tell you to get a PPSN first as it’s easier for them to hire someone without having to wait for them to get that, they may just choose other canditates who already have one for simplicities sake.
If you apply then for your PPSN first to make it easier to get hired, you wont have a job offer to give in with your documents, making it harder to get the PPSN. You’ve got two options here, one is that you can explain to your new possible employer that it’s not impossible for you to get a PPSN without a letter from them and they might give it to you, or you can submit proof that you applied to jobs online to the PPS office and epxlain that employers won’t offer you jobs until you have the number.
Either of those two parties will hopefully bend and give you what you need. If those options don’t work and you are taking a long term study course with a school, they can give you a letter showing your study dates with them as the reason you are in the country and need a PPSN, and you could show that to the office. It’s not really what they are lookng for, but if you are out of options it’s worth a try.
If there are other types of public services you want to access and you’re not sure where to find information, we will put some other helpful websites here that you can use:
That’s it from us today, if you’d like to see if learning English in Cork could be right for you feel free to contact us by clicking here.