Skip to content
SettleDone

Guide · Families relocating to Ireland

Moving your family to Ireland, in the order the decisions actually arrive.

Most guides start with visas. For a family, that is the wrong end. School places set the area, the area sets the housing search, and the school year sets every deadline behind it. This is the sequence we run, with the figures published and sourced so you can check them.

Book a Discovery CallSee the family programme

SettleDone coordinates relocations. We do not provide legal, immigration or tax advice and we do not file applications. Figures on this page are drawn from published sources and linked throughout.

The short answer

Work the school places first, then everything else follows.

A family move to Ireland has one genuinely scarce resource, and it is not housing — it is a place at the right school, in the right year group, starting in the right term. Dublin has seven international schools and a small number of long-established fee-paying day schools, most of them clustered in the same few southern suburbs. They fill early and they do not expand.

Every other decision resolves once that one is settled. The school fixes the area. The area fixes the rental search and the commute. The route in has to deliver permission in time for the September start. The tax position has to be settled before the first arrival date, not after it. Families who work in that order move once. Families who work in the reverse order move twice.

The sequence

Six decisions, in order.

  1. Step 1

    Schools first — always

    Places, not preferences. Which schools have capacity at your children's exact year groups, when their waiting lists open, what they charge, and which curriculum protects your options if you move on again.

    International and private schools in Ireland

  2. Step 2

    The route in

    Employment permit, intra-company transfer, EU treaty rights, citizenship by descent or a long-stay permission. The right answer depends on the shape of your income and your spouse's working plans, not on which route sounds most prestigious.

    Investor and long-stay routes

  3. Step 3

    Where you live

    Chosen against the school run and the commute, in that order. Dublin's good family areas are small, well defined and competitive — knowing which three streets matter saves weeks.

    Where international families live in Dublin

  4. Step 4

    Healthcare

    Private cover placed before arrival, because new-customer waiting periods start when the policy starts — not when you land. GP registration, consultants and what public cover does and does not give you.

    Private healthcare and health insurance

  5. Step 5

    Property

    Rent first, almost always. When you do buy: stamp duty, non-resident financing, solicitors, and the timeline a purchase adds to a move already running against the school calendar.

    Buying property as a non-resident

  6. Step 6

    Tax position

    Residence, ordinary residence and domicile are three separate tests, and the remittance basis turns on the third. This is the workstream where getting advice late is most expensive — it needs to be settled before you arrive, not after.

    Domicile, residence and the remittance basis

A complimentary 30-minute call

Tell us your children's year groups and your target term. We'll tell you what is realistic.

Book a Discovery Call

Why families use a concierge rather than a checklist

What you are actually buying.

  • Your real cost is time, not fees

    A senior executive or founder losing six weeks to school applications, rental viewings, PPS appointments and utility accounts is the expensive outcome — and it lands in the same weeks as a new role or a funding round. The coordination is not the cheap part of the move to do yourself.

  • One accountable point of contact

    The same standard you would expect from a private bank or a family office: one team holding the whole file, one person who knows what is outstanding, and no chasing eight vendors who have never spoken to each other.

  • Discretion by default

    Your family's circumstances are set out once, to one team. We brief the professionals who need to know what they need to know, and nothing beyond it.

  • The school year is the real deadline

    Every other date in a family move is negotiable. September is not. We plan backwards from it, which is why school capacity is the first question we ask rather than the last.

What surprises people

Three things families consistently get wrong.

School fees are lower than expected. Families arriving from the US, the Gulf or Switzerland routinely budget two to three times what Irish schooling actually costs. It is one of the few line items that gets cheaper.

Housing is harder than expected. Supply of large family homes in the areas international families want is thin, and good properties are gone in days. This is the constraint that most often forces a compromise.

Health cover has a clock on it. Private cover carries waiting periods that begin the day the policy starts. Placing it before you land, rather than after, can be the difference between being covered in month one and month seven.

Related reading

Why Ireland — the full caseSchools and feesWhere families livePrivate healthcareBuying propertyDomicile and remittance basisCost of living vs the US

Ways to work with us

Programmes suited to family moves

One team holding the whole move.

Common questions

Moving to Ireland with a family — frequently asked.

  • Work back from the school year, not from the job start date. Irish and international schools in Dublin are heavily oversubscribed and most operate a single main entry point each September, with waiting lists that open well in advance. Twelve months out is comfortable; six months is workable; under three months usually means accepting whichever school has a place rather than the school you would have chosen.

Next step

Start with the school year, not the moving date.

A complimentary 30-minute Discovery Call. No obligation. A clear read on what is realistic for your family's timing.

Book a Discovery CallSee our programmes