Look inside
The plan for Ireland, from the inside
These are all 32 steps of the Ireland journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 32
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 41
- Only for your situation
- 8
Phase 1
5 steps
Orientation
Ireland has no counter where you report — and that's not a convenience but the theme of this whole journey: without a register everything turns on proofs of address. Beyond that the question isn't whether you'll find a home, but how — this is the tightest rental market in the EU, with completely new rules since 1 March 2026.
- 1.1
Understand the system: no register, so everything is proof of address
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 1.2
Choose your Ireland: Dublin, the cities or the west
- Lead time
- an evening of research, and the conversation about it
- Costs
- none
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
11 steps
Closing the Netherlands
The familiar list, with a treaty that resembles the Cypriot one but has a higher threshold: up to € 25,000 total gross only Ireland taxes your pension and AOW, above that the Netherlands may too. And the S1 route yields something special here — a medical card without a means test, in a country where the GP otherwise costs per visit.
- 2.1
Arrange your healthcare: the S1 that's worth a medical card
- Lead time
- start 2-3 months before departure; the CAK application takes ± 4 weeks
- Costs
- no application costs; the treaty contribution replaces your premium
2 official sources
- 2.2
Pension and the treaty: the threshold of € 25,000
- Lead time
- the sum is an evening; work it out before every decision
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 2.3
The tax wind-up: M return and the protective assessment
- Lead time
- the M return follows in the year after departure
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.4
Stopping allowances and child benefit
- Lead time
- an hour
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.5
Deregister with the municipality
- Lead time
- five working days before departure, not earlier
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 2.6
DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlands
- Lead time
- an afternoon
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.7
Documents: few, but the right ones
- Lead time
- extracts within a week
- Costs
- extracts ± € 15 each
1 official source
- 2.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.9
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.11
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
3 steps
The move
No direct boat sails from the Netherlands to Ireland: it's the long ferry from France, or the land bridge through Great Britain with customs papers since Brexit. On arrival the car immediately gets three clocks — seven days, thirty days, twelve months — and the dog its tapeworm window of 24 to 120 hours.
- 3.1
Plan the journey: the long boat, or the land bridge
- Lead time
- quotes 4-6 weeks ahead
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
1 official source
- 3.2
The car: the VRT sum and the series of clocks
- Lead time
- the sum is an evening; the decision belongs before the move
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.3
The pet: the tapeworm clock
- Lead time
- the vet wants two weeks' notice; the treatment sits at 24-120 hours
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
6 steps
Getting the basics in order in Ireland
There's nothing to register — there's a basis to build, and the order here is the reverse of the rest of Europe: first the address, only then everything else. The PPS number can only be done after arrival, the bank wants a proof of address at most three months old, and the official way out of the chicken-and-egg puzzle is simply on the government site.
- 4.1
Find your home: the tightest market in the EU, with new rules
- Lead time
- count on weeks to months; start before arrival
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
2 official sources
- 4.2
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
1 official source
- 4.3
The bank account: the same proof of address, the same solution
- Lead time
- days once the proof of address is there
- Costs
- mind the monthly charges
2 official sources
- 4.4
Revenue: register and collect your tax credits
- Lead time
- online, as soon as your PPS number is in
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 4.5
Healthcare: submit the S1, or apply for the cards
- Lead time
- the S1 processing takes weeks; start straight away
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 4.6
Utilities: build your proof-of-address file
- Lead time
- a week
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
Phase 5
7 steps
Arrival
The basis is there; now it becomes a life. The car through its series of clocks, the return with its Irish peculiarities — AOW without USC, remittance for whoever knows it — the school that's Catholic in 88% of cases with an opt-out right, and an energy bill you learn to manage.
- 5.1
The car: through the series of clocks
- Lead time
- NCTS within 7 days, registration within 30
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.2
Work: the jobs machine, looked at honestly
- Lead time
- ongoing
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 5.3
Tax in practice: USC, PRSI and the remittance basis
- Lead time
- the return follows annually
- Costs
- n/a
2 official sources
- 5.4
Family: choosing a school in a Catholic system
- Lead time
- enrol well before September; waiting lists are real
- Costs
- free, with a "voluntary contribution"
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 5.5
The house through the year: the most expensive electricity in the EU
- Lead time
- arrange it in your first month
- Costs
- see the cost estimate
1 official source
- 5.6
Driving: on the left, and your driving licence simply stays valid
- Lead time
- takes two weeks to get used to
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 5.7
The small print: the rhythm of the island
- Lead time
- spread over the first year
- Costs
- none
8 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Ireland journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters 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
The PPS number is the key to almost everything: work, tax, healthcare, driving licence, school. And the rule that surprises everyone is stated literally on the government site: you can't apply for it from the Netherlands — you have to be in Ireland. The application runs online via MyWelfare (a basic account with email and phone suffices), followed by a compulsory in-person appointment with 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 stated there too: if you're staying with friends or family, an original utility bill of the occupant with a note on it that you're staying at that address suffices — and a hotel or hostel manager may confirm your address as well. That's not a trick from a forum; it's on the government page. That's how you break the circle, and every subsequent counter becomes easier.
What this step rests on
This is step 4.2 of 32. The other 31 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Ireland?
All 32 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Ireland: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Ireland really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.