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Ireland · No visa required
Emigrating to Ireland
To move to Ireland, you first arrange an address and then, once there, your PPS number, the Irish citizen service number. There's no registration, not even a population register. So everything turns on proofs of address, which newcomers don't have yet. Ireland is English-speaking, though, and an hour and a half's flight. This page shows how it really works.
€ 199 one-off · 35 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- EU: no registration, but a fixed order
- The chain
- Address → PPS number → bank → Revenue → HSE
- Note
- PPS number only after arrival. Proof of address at most 3 months old
Last updated: 14 October 2026
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Five phases, from the proof-of-address puzzle to the car's clock series
Ireland has no registration counter, and so an order of its own: first the address, only then everything else. You can only apply for the PPS number in Ireland itself. For that you need a proof of address you don't have yet, but the official way out is simply on the government site. The rental market is the tightest in the EU, with rules completely renewed on 1 March 2026. And there's the tax treaty with its threshold of € 25,000, alongside the S1 that yields a medical card here without a means test.
- Orientation
No register, so everything turns on proof of address
In this phase you learn how Ireland works without a register, and you choose where to live. As an EU citizen you don't have to report anywhere: no immigration service, no residence card, no population register. The flip side is the theme of this journey. Every authority asks for proofs of address at most three months old, and as a newcomer you don't have them yet. You choose between Dublin, the jobs machine with the most expensive market, and the rest of the country. And you have the honest conversation about the rental market, the wet climate and the most expensive electricity in the EU. Also remember: Ireland isn't in Schengen, the area without passport checks at the border.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
The threshold of € 25,000, and the S1 that's worth gold here
In this phase you work through the familiar list: healthcare, benefits, deregistration. Ireland adds two particulars. The first is the tax treaty from 2019. Up to € 25,000 total gross, only Ireland may tax your pension and AOW. Above that the Netherlands may tax too. The Irish side is milder than the table: your AOW is free of USC there (an Irish levy on income), and above seventy the PRSI (the Irish social insurance contribution) lapses. The second is the S1, the healthcare form from the CAK. It does something unique here: it yields a medical card (the Irish healthcare card) without a means test. That counts in a country where the GP otherwise costs € 60 to € 80 per visit.Read more
- The move
The long boat, and three clocks for the car
In this phase you arrange the crossing, the car and the dog. No direct ferry sails from the Netherlands. You choose between almost 24 hours' sailing from Dunkirk, the longer route from Cherbourg, or the land bridge through Great Britain with Brexit customs papers. The car is cheap to bring with the Transfer of Residence exemption, which spares you the Irish registration tax. The requirement is six months' ownership. But on arrival a series of clocks starts right away: seven days to claim the exemption and book the inspection, thirty days to register, and twelve months in which you don't sell the car. The dog has its own tapeworm window of 24 to 120 hours.Read more
- Getting the basics in order in Ireland
First the address, then the PPS number, then the rest
In this phase you build your base in Ireland, in the only order that works. There's nothing to register. First comes the home, on the tightest market in the EU. The RTB register (the public register of tenancies) is your checking tool, and the deposit is legally capped at one month. Then the PPS number, via MyWelfare, the Irish government's online counter. No proof of address yet? There's an official way out: an energy bill from your host with a note on it. After that come the bank, the registration with Revenue (the Irish tax authority) that saves you from emergency tax (the highest rate on your whole salary), and the S1 to the HSE (the Irish health service). Also put the utilities in your own name. Every bill is the proof of address for the next counter.Read more
- Arrival
Working through the car's clocks, and making the island your own
In this phase you work through the last deadlines and really start living in Ireland. The car goes through its seven-day, thirty-day and three-day clocks, with the ferry ticket as proof. Your tax return has Irish peculiarities. Your AOW is free of USC. And if the Netherlands is your domicile, the country you consider your permanent home, Ireland taxes your foreign income only to the extent you bring it to Ireland. That's called the remittance basis. Your Irish income and pay for work in Ireland never fall under it. The school is Catholic in 88% of cases. You have a legal opt-out right for religious lessons, and using it is entirely common. And then life itself: you learn to manage the most expensive electricity in the EU, driving on the left gets familiar faster than feared, and the pub isn't a bar but the village living room.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Ireland journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 4.2 of your plan
The PPS number: only here, and with the chicken-and-egg trick
- Lead time
- application online, appointment in person; count on a few weeks
- Costs
- none
With this step you get the PPS number, the Irish citizen service number. It's the key to almost everything: work, tax, healthcare, driving licence and school.
The rule that surprises everyone is stated literally on the government site: you can't apply for the number from the Netherlands. You have to be in Ireland. This is how you go about it:
- Apply online via MyWelfare, the online counter of Irish social welfare. A basic account with email and phone suffices.
- Then follows a compulsory in-person appointment. Bring your passport and a proof of address at most three months old.
- The number then comes by post.
No proof of address? The official way out is on the government page too:
- If you're staying with friends or family, an original utility bill of the occupant suffices, with a note on it that you're staying at that address.
- A hotel or hostel manager may also confirm your address.
That's not a trick from a forum. That's how you break the circle, and every subsequent counter becomes easier.
What this step rests on
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Ireland.
This is step 4.2 of 37. The other 36 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 37 steps for IrelandWhat you get for € 199
All 37 steps to Ireland, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Ireland
€ 199
one-off · 37 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Ireland: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Ireland change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Ireland? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Ireland starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Ireland
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- May you live in Ireland? The EU right of residence without registration, and where it still asks for somethingAs a Dutch citizen you live in Ireland without a permit, without a residence card and without reporting to the immigration service. After three months you do need a basis: work, or enough money plus health cover. For a partner from outside the EU it is different: they apply for a residence card in Ireland itself.
- AOW, pension and tax in Ireland: the €25,000 threshold and the USC exemptionThe tax treaty with Ireland allocates pensions and AOW to Ireland, up to a total of €25,000 a year; above that the Netherlands may tax too. The Irish side is milder than it looks: the AOW is exempt from the Universal Social Charge there, and over seventy or with a medical card you pay a lower USC. The ABP pension usually stays at home, and for foreign income there is the remittance basis.
- Your car to Ireland: the VRT, the exemption and the seven daysWithout an exemption you pay the registration tax VRT when registering in Ireland, a percentage of the market value that rises with emissions. The Transfer of Residence exemption prevents that, with six months' ownership as the condition and a series of clocks on arrival: claim and book the inspection within seven days, register within thirty days, and don't sell for twelve months. Keep the ferry ticket.
- Your pet to Ireland: the tapeworm clock, and why the route via England changes everythingFrom the Netherlands your dog, cat or ferret travels on the European pet passport: microchip, rabies vaccination, 21 days' wait. For dogs a tapeworm treatment is added, one to five days before arrival. Whoever drives via Great Britain enters Ireland from a country outside the EU, and then more rules apply: a second treatment by a British vet, advance notice and a check on arrival.
- Your household goods to Ireland: no customs within the EU, unless you drive through Great BritainWhoever moves from the Netherlands to Ireland moves within the EU: no import duty, no VAT, no relief form. The Irish customs relief for a move only applies to people coming from outside the EU. There are two exceptions: alcohol and tobacco above the guidelines, and the route through Great Britain, because then your belongings leave the EU and have to cross under customs supervision.
- A bank account in Ireland: the basic account that costs nothing for a year, and the proof of address you don't have yetAs an EU resident you are entitled to a basic bank account in Ireland, free of charge for everyday banking in the first year. What you need is photo ID and a proof of address no more than six months old, and in the first weeks that last one is the problem. Until then your Dutch account can do a lot of the work: an Irish company may not refuse your IBAN because it is Dutch.
All 15 articles about Ireland
- The PPS number and the proofs of address: the Irish order
- Buying a house in Ireland: 1% stamp duty, a 10% deposit, and only the contract makes it binding
- Your first weeks in Ireland: every counter wants proof of address, and every counter a different shelf life
- Living and renting in Ireland: the new rules of 2026
- Healthcare in Ireland: the HSE, the cards and the S1 route
- Your driving licence in Ireland: valid until it expires, and then an exchange for €65
- School in Ireland: free, mostly Catholic, and your child can be exempted from Irish
- SARP and the remittance basis: Ireland's two tax regimes for newcomers, and who they work for
- Working in Ireland: no permit needed, but a PPS number, or you pay 40% emergency tax
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Ireland: 37 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.