An international hire is the most expensive employee you'll bring on all year. By the time they land in Ireland or the UK, the business has already spent on sourcing, permit fees, flights and often accommodation. The first 90 days either consolidate that investment or waste it. Most international hire departures in the first year trace back to the onboarding period, not the recruitment period. This guide lays out what good onboarding looks like for international employees — the pre-arrival, week-one, and first-90-days playbook that keeps retention high.
Why International Onboarding Is Different
Four Extra Layers Local Onboarding Doesn't Have
• An immigration process they must complete to remain legally in the country
• Basic life logistics (bank account, phone, transport, accommodation) that cannot be organised in advance
• Cultural adjustment — workplace norms, weather, food, isolation from family and support network
• Financial pressure — typically having paid for the move themselves, with 4-6 weeks to first payroll
Ignoring these added layers is the reason good technical hires leave in month 3 with no warning.
Phase 1: Pre-Arrival (4 Weeks Before Start Date)
The Pre-Arrival Checklist
Accommodation
Book short-term accommodation for at least 4 weeks before the employee travels. Shared accommodation near the worksite, clearly priced, with a clear path to permanent accommodation after week 4. Leaving accommodation 'for the candidate to sort out on arrival' is a recipe for early departure.
Financial bridge
International employees typically arrive with savings exhausted. A signing advance, a deferred deposit loan, or a payroll advance against first-month's pay prevents the first-week panic. Formalise any advance in writing with a clear repayment plan.
Pre-arrival communication
Send a clear pre-arrival pack: flight booking confirmation, pickup arrangements, temporary accommodation details, first-day meeting time and location, what to bring for PPS/NI appointment, dress code, and a named contact for their first 30 days.
Diarise immigration milestones
PPS (Ireland) or NI number (UK) appointments should be booked in advance where possible. IRP (Ireland) registration must happen within 90 days of arrival — book the appointment in the first week.
Phase 2: Week One
Day 1 — Arrival
Airport pickup is a small cost that pays back many times over. Nobody should land jet-lagged into a strange country and take public transport to their accommodation. If airport pickup is not possible, book a reliable taxi in advance and send the driver's details to the employee 24 hours ahead.
Days 2-3 — Practical Setup
Bank account — Many Irish banks require proof of address, which a newly-arrived employee does not have. Revolut accounts can be opened same-day with a passport and are the standard bridge. A permanent Irish bank account can be set up in month 2.
Phone — An Irish or UK SIM should be arranged in day one or two. eSIMs via Revolut Mobile, GoMo, 48 or Tesco Mobile can be activated before they even arrive.
Transport — Set up a Leap Card (Ireland) or Oyster/local travel card (UK) with the first month's commute loaded.
Days 3-5 — Work Onboarding Begins
Standard onboarding — contract signing, payroll setup, systems access, team introductions, health and safety. International hires are absorbing workplace content while also adjusting to an entirely new environment. Two full days of induction at the start is usually too much; pace it thoughtfully.
Phase 3: Weeks 2-6
Set These Up in the First Month
IRP appointment (Ireland) — Book in week 2 or 3. Dublin availability can run 4-6 weeks. Provide a formal letter of employment.
Permanent accommodation — Support the search actively. List good rental websites (Daft, MyHome, Rent.ie), review contracts before signing, act as reference or co-signer where appropriate.
Buddy pairing — Match the new hire with an existing employee, ideally from the same country or a previous international hire. The buddy is not a manager — just a peer who answers practical questions. Formalise one 30-minute buddy check-in per week for 12 weeks.
Phase 4: 30, 60, 90-Day Reviews
Structured check-ins signal that the company is invested. They also surface problems before they become resignations.
The Three Key Review Points
30-day review
Focus: practical settlement, first month's pay clarity, accommodation stability, immediate role feedback. Red flags at 30 days: accommodation unresolved, financial stress, isolation, role expectations mismatched with reality.
60-day review
Focus: role performance, team integration, any friction points with colleagues or processes, plans for family contact. Red flags at 60 days: no friendships forming, uncertainty about career path, home-country pressure to return.
90-day review
Focus: first-year development plan, professional registration progress (where relevant), permit renewal awareness, family reunification planning. By 90 days, retention usually stabilises.
Integration — The Often-Missed Piece
Compliance gets done because it has to. Integration often gets skipped because nobody's job it is. Things that make a disproportionate difference:
Practical Integration Moves
• Invite the employee to team social events in the first month, with a specific ask so they know they're wanted
• Introduce them to other international hires across the company
• Acknowledge significant cultural or religious dates relevant to them
• Provide information about local services (GP registration, faith communities, language exchange groups)
• Be explicit about workplace norms that might differ from their home country — directness in feedback, meeting culture, approach to overtime
Compliance Checkpoints During Onboarding
Documents That Must Be On File
• Passport and valid employment permit before first day (Ireland) or right-to-work check completed (UK)
• IRP (Ireland) / BRP (UK) copy within 90 days
• PPS / NI number obtained and entered into payroll
• Signed employment contract matching permit details
• Tax registration forms (TR1/8A in Ireland, starter checklist in UK)
• Professional body registration evidence where applicable (NMBI, CORU, Safe Electric)
• Safe Pass / CSCS / equivalent site cards where applicable
• Garda Vetting / DBS check where applicable
When Onboarding Goes Wrong
Patterns That Kill Retention
• 'The permit is approved — our job is done' — and the employee arrives to find no accommodation, no pickup, no clarity on payroll
• Leaving the HR lead untrained on international specifics and letting them use the same checklist as for a local hire
• Treating early feedback about accommodation or isolation as 'complaining' rather than leading indicators of departure
• Not starting permit renewal planning until month 18 or 20 — creating stress at exactly the point the employee should be consolidating
The Underlying Principle
International hires are not local hires who happen to be foreign. They are colleagues who have uprooted their lives to join your business, and the company's success in retaining them depends almost entirely on whether the first 90 days feel like an organised, supportive start or an abandonment at the airport. The companies that get this right see 85-90%+ first-year retention and build a reputation that makes future international hiring easier.
How Recruitroo Supports Onboarding
Recruitroo supports employers through the entire onboarding period. Our candidate app gives new hires visibility on every permit, IRP and registration milestone; our team provides practical arrival support; and our dashboards keep HR on top of 30/60/90-day touchpoints. Hiring is only worthwhile if the employee stays — that's how we measure success.
Want to build a structured onboarding playbook?
We'll share our 90-day onboarding template and walk you through how our platform supports each milestone from arrival to permit renewal.
This guide reflects Irish and UK onboarding requirements as of April 2026. Immigration appointment times, IRP processes and registration requirements change periodically.