Highly Qualified Persons Rules update

In terms of the Highly Qualified Persons (Amendment) Rules, 2021 (Legal Notice 29 of 2021) (the ‘Amendment’), a number of amendments were introduced with retroactive effect from 31 December 2020 in relation to the benefits provided in the Highly Qualified Persons Rules, Subsidiary Legislation 123.126 (the ‘HQP Rules’). The Amendment may be summarised as follows:

• The HQP Rules have been extended for another five years whereby no determinations by the respective competent authorities shall be issued after 31 December 2025, and any such determination issued must refer to any employment in respect of which the benefit provided by the HQP Rules commences by 31 December 2026 and ceases to apply by 31 December 2030.
• Persons applying to benefit under the HQP Rules may now be eligible for two further extensions (as opposed to one) of five years with respect to EEA and Swiss nationals and four years with respect to third-country nationals.