This page follows the ISD Third Level Graduate Programme page, last updated 28 March 2024. It is written for people looking at a DBS master's, which is a Level 9 award. It does not promise permanent residence, settlement, a job, a work permit, or the permission itself.
What the programme is
Immigration Service Delivery describes the Third Level Graduate Programme for legally resident, Irish-educated non-EEA graduates who hold a Level 8 or Level 9 award from a recognised Irish awarding body. QQI is one of the awarding bodies named on that page. DBS master's programmes on this site are QQI-validated Level 9 awards. Being in that class of award is part of the published description. It is not, by itself, a decision that the permission will be granted.
The purpose is to seek graduate employment
The purpose ISD states is seeking graduate-level employment and applying for a general employment permit, a critical skills employment permit, or a research hosting agreement. It is time in which to look for appropriate graduate employment. It is not a job, and it is not an employment permission.
Initial permission for a Level 9 award
For an award at Level 9 or above, ISD says a person who qualifies is granted permission for 12 months initially. The introduction to the same page describes the programme as a period of twelve months. The longer heading on the Level 9 section is explained by the renewal rule below. It is not a grant of 24 months on the day the award is issued.
A further period, only if the conditions are met
ISD says the initial permission can be renewed for a further 12 months, subject to the overall eight-year limit, only where the graduate satisfies the immigration authorities that they have taken appropriate steps to access suitable graduate-level employment. The examples ISD gives are attendance at job interviews and signing up with graduate employment agencies. The further period is conditional.
Longer-term work is a separate permission
Staying on to work after graduate permission may require an eligible employment permission, such as one of the permits named in the purpose of the programme. That is a separate application and a separate decision. This site cannot say that an employer will hire you, or that a permit will be issued.
What this is not
Completing a DBS master's does not promise temporary or permanent residence in Ireland. It does not promise settlement, a job, a work permit, or the graduate permission itself. Irish immigration decides. Nothing on this page is a prediction of that decision.
Conditions to read before you rely on this
ISD's page, last updated 28 March 2024, also includes these conditions: a current Stamp 2 and an up-to-date registration card; applying within six months of written notification of the award; not already having exceeded the seven-year limit on student permission; and presenting the parchment or an official letter, medical insurance, and the registration fee stated on that page (€300 when the page was last updated). A person who already used the programme at Level 8 or above may, on a higher award, re-enter for 12 months, on no more than two occasions, subject to the eight-year limit. A Level 8 award is described separately, as 12 months within a seven-year cap. Read the current page. Rules change, and ISD decides.