Moving to Ireland from the UK: Visa-Free Rules, PPS Numbers & What Actually Changes

Of all the moves in this series, Ireland is the odd one out — because for UK citizens, there isn't really a visa question at all. Under the Common Travel Area (CTA), an agreement between the UK and Ireland dating back to 1922 and unaffected by Brexit, British citizens can live, work, and access public services in Ireland without a visa, work permit, or residency application. You can land, find a home, register with Revenue, and start work the same week.

That's the easy part. The parts that catch UK movers out are the pieces of admin that quietly changed after Brexit, even though the right to move itself didn't.

The short version

• No visa needed. The CTA gives UK citizens the right to live and work in Ireland with no application process at all.
• You'll still need a PPS number — Ireland's equivalent of a National Insurance number — before you can work, open a bank account, or access public services.
• Brexit changed the admin, not the right to move: car imports, pet travel, and ISA tax status all work differently now, even though your right to actually be in Ireland didn't change.

What the Common Travel Area actually covers

The CTA predates the EU, and it survived Brexit intact via a 2019 UK-Ireland memorandum of understanding. For UK citizens, it means:

• No visa or residency permit needed to move, live, or work in Ireland
• No language test, no points system, no minimum income threshold
• Reciprocal rights to healthcare, social welfare, and public services (subject to standard residency conditions, same as any Irish move)

This is a genuinely unusual arrangement — it's not a consequence of EU membership, and it doesn't extend to the rest of the EU. If you want free movement across the wider EU beyond Ireland, that's a separate question involving Irish or EU citizenship, not something the CTA gives you.

The PPS number: your first real task

Even without a visa, you can't function administratively in Ireland without a PPS number (Personal Public Service number) — it's needed before you can start work, open a bank account, register with Revenue, or access most public services.

Do this as early as possible after arrival. You'll need proof of identity, proof of address in Ireland, and a reason for needing the number (a job offer or start date helps). Processing can take a few weeks, so don't leave it until your first payday is looming.

What actually changed because of Brexit

This is the part most "no visa needed" guides skip entirely, and it's where UK movers genuinely get caught out:

Car imports: Post-Brexit, a GB-registered vehicle is treated as a non-EU import into Ireland. VAT, customs duty, and Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) can all stack on top of each other, turning what used to be a straightforward import into a genuinely expensive one. If you're planning to bring a UK car, price this properly before assuming it's the cheaper option versus buying in Ireland.

Pet travel: The old EU Pet Passport no longer works for travel from Great Britain. You'll need an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) instead, issued by an official vet, for each trip. Northern Ireland is treated differently to Great Britain here, since it remains inside the EU for goods — worth knowing if your route involves crossing through NI.

ISAs: Your UK ISA loses its tax-free status the day you become Irish tax resident. This is one of the most commonly missed financial details among UK movers — the account doesn't close, but the tax shelter stops applying, and any growth or income from that point is potentially taxable in Ireland.

Irish tax residency: You become tax resident in Ireland once you spend 183 days in Ireland in a tax year, or 280 days across two consecutive tax years. This is when the ISA issue (and other UK tax-advantaged accounts) starts to matter — worth getting proper cross-border tax advice before you cross that threshold, not after.

Northern Ireland is different

Worth flagging separately: Northern Ireland's position is not the same as Great Britain's for goods, since it remains inside the EU single market for goods under the Northern Ireland Protocol arrangements. If your move involves Northern Ireland at any stage — shipping route, pet travel, car import — check the NI-specific rules rather than assuming the GB rules apply.

What this means practically

Because there's no visa process, the "when do I need to start planning" question looks different for Ireland than for Portugal, Spain, or Canada. There's no application to submit months in advance, no draw to enter, no processing time to wait out. The planning shifts almost entirely to the practical side: housing, the PPS number, tax residency timing, and the Brexit-era admin above.

If you're mapping out your Ireland move, Life Planned's Ireland checklist walks through the practical steps in order — PPS number, banking, healthcare registration, and the car/pet/tax admin that actually needs planning. For a realistic monthly budget, see our cost of living in Ireland guide, and for the full sequence from decision to arrival, our step-by-step Ireland moving timeline.

Once you're set up, you'll likely be transferring money between UK and Irish accounts regularly. Wise is a straightforward way to hold both GBP and EUR and convert at a fair rate, rather than losing money to standard bank transfer fees.

This article is for general guidance only and isn't tax or legal advice. Always confirm current requirements with Citizens Information Ireland or a qualified adviser before relying on any of the above for your own move.