> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ciaran-murray.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # An Irish citizen's first week in Scottish hospitality: the Common Travel Area, in practice - URL: https://www.ciaran-murray.com/irish-citizen-first-week-scottish-hospitality/ - Published: 2026-10-21T08:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T18:13:44.000Z - Description: I can start work in a Highland kitchen the morning I land. No visa, no sponsor, no English test. Here's the first week, in practice, with the sources. - Author: Ciaran Murray - Tags: Cork to the Highlands, People & Craft I can start work in a Highland kitchen the morning I land. No visa, no sponsor, no English test. Since 22 July 2025 a chef from Lisbon can't be newly sponsored for the same job. That's the Common Travel Area, and most people on both sides of the water have never read what it says. I have, because I'm moving under it this month. This is the first week, in practice, for an Irish bar manager arriving in the Highlands, and for the general manager hiring him. ## What the Common Travel Area actually gives you The Home Office's guidance, updated on 1 January 2026, puts it in one sentence for Irish citizens: "You do not need permission to enter or remain in the UK, including a visa." The arrangement is older than the European Union and survived the UK leaving it; the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2019 reaffirming it. You can live, work, study, vote in local elections and use the health service on the same footing as a British citizen. ![An airport departures board listing flights to Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/1-body-4.jpg) Photo: Amsterdam City Archives on Unsplash What it doesn't do is fill in the forms for you. Three things stand between landing and the first payslip. ## One: proof of right to work Every UK employer has to check your right to work before you start, and the check for an Irish citizen is the simplest on the list. The Home Office says an employer may accept "an Irish passport or passport card", and it "can be current or expired". If you've neither, an Irish birth or adoption certificate will do, together with an official document showing your name and National Insurance number. Share codes, the online check most people now use, are for non-British and non-Irish citizens; you won't be asked for one. I'll carry the passport. It fits in the inside pocket beside the pen, and it's the only document the first conversation needs. ![An open passport showing entry stamps.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/2-body-8.jpg) Photo: Global Residence Index on Unsplash ![The Kessock Bridge over the Beauly Firth near Inverness, seen from a rocky shore at low tide.](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1638990364773-441cb6604e56?w=2000&q=80&fm=jpg) The road north over the Kessock Bridge. Photo by Tim Woolliscroft on Unsplash. ## Two: the National Insurance number you can't get in advance Here's the one that catches people. You can only apply for a National Insurance number once you're in the UK, and the Department for Work and Pensions says "it can take up to 4 weeks". The good news: you can start work before it arrives, provided you can prove your right to work, which you've just done with the passport. The practical effect is that your first payslip may be on an emergency tax code, with a correction later. If you're moving before the first wage lands, budget for a thin first month. ![A black leather wallet with banknotes in it.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/3-body-8.jpg) Photo: Emil Kalibradov on Unsplash ## Three: a doctor, and nobody can turn you away Register with a GP in your first week, before you need one. NHS Scotland's guidance is clear that a practice shouldn't delay or refuse your registration because you can't show identification or proof of address, and that you can register if you're staying for more than three months. For a man arriving with one bag and no lease yet, that line matters. I'll leave the bank account and the driving licence out of this piece, because I couldn't find the official text I'd want to quote, and I only print what I can source. Ask your bank; check the DVLA. ## What changed for everyone else On 22 July 2025 the UK raised the skills threshold for the Skilled Worker visa from RQF level 3 to RQF level 6 and removed 111 occupations from new sponsorship. In my post on 1 October I wrote that chefs, restaurant managers, hotel managers and bar managers can only be sponsored now if they were already on a Skilled Worker visa; that is the sense of the change, and the Statement of Changes (HC 836) is at the foot of this page for anyone who wants the tables. So a Highland kitchen that could once sponsor a chef from Lisbon or Manila mostly can't start that process today. The people it can hire without a sponsor licence are British, Irish, and those already settled here. Who will pour the dram, and where they'll sleep, is the question I wrote about in [my first essay](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/highland-hospitality-staff-visas-housing/); the Common Travel Area is one of the few answers that got easier rather than harder. ## For the general manager Hiring an Irish manager is as simple as hiring one from Nairn. Same right-to-work check, same forms, no sponsor licence, no fee, no English test. The only timing wrinkle is the National Insurance number, and that's the new hire's problem, not yours; you can start them on day one. ![A wall painted with the words Everyone Is Welcome.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/4-body-8.jpg) Photo: Katie Moum on Unsplash ## The first-week checklist 1. Irish passport or passport card, for the right-to-work check. 2. Apply for the National Insurance number the day you land; keep the reference. 3. Register with a GP in the first week. 4. Your Irish certificates in the bag: food safety, the SCPLH when it comes, references. Nobody has to take your word for it. 5. One honest line to the GM about the NI timing. **GMs and HR people:** when you've hired from Ireland, what was the one thing that held up the start date? Tell me in the comments on LinkedIn, or hit reply if this came to you by email. New here? My Monday stories and Thursday craft notes can come straight to your inbox: [subscribe free](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/#/portal/signup). Thursday: [the rota rule I'll never break](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/the-rota-rule-ill-never-break/). ### References - Home Office (2026) *Common Travel Area guidance*, updated 1 January 2026\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-travel-area-guidance/common-travel-area-guidance?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - Home Office (2026) *Prove your right to work to an employer*. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-work?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - Home Office (2026) *Right to work checks: an employer's guide*, updated 1 October 2026\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - Department for Work and Pensions (2026) *Apply for a National Insurance number*. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - NHS inform (2025) *Registering with a GP practice*. Available at: [nhsinform.scot](https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/doctors/registering-with-a-gp-practice/?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - Home Office (2025) *Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules: HC 836*, 1 July 2025\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68593175ae75d34a91861191/E03383179%5F-%5FHC%5F836%5F-%5FImmigration%5FRules%5FChanges%5F%5FWeb%5FAccessible%5F.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - Home Office (2025) *Major immigration reforms delivered to restore order and control*, press release, 22 July 2025\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/news?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026). - Murray, C. (2026) 'Who Will Pour the Dram? Staff, Visas and Highland Beds', *ciaran-murray.com*, 1 October. Available at: [ciaran-murray.com](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/highland-hospitality-staff-visas-housing/).