A note before we start: we are a software vendor, not a law firm or an immigration consultancy — this article organises the official material as of August 2026, it does not replace legal advice. Ireland’s framework is mid-transition and dates have moved before; for binding questions, check with QQI and Immigration Service Delivery directly or talk to an Irish lawyer.

In short: an English language school in Ireland that wants to recruit non-EEA students who need a study visa or immigration permission must either still hold programmes on the Interim List of Eligible Programmes (ILEP) — a list that is now closed to new applicants — or gain authorisation to use TrustEd Ireland, the statutory International Education Mark awarded by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI). QQI authorised the first five English language providers on 5 August 2026; according to that announcement the ILEP continues to operate until the end of 2026 and is then superseded by the TrustEd Ireland list. If your school is not on either track, you cannot recruit visa-required students once the transition completes.

Ireland is one of the world’s biggest ELT destinations, and its regulation is currently changing more than at any point since 2015. The honest headline is not a tidy set of rules but a transition: an interim immigration list that was meant to be temporary has run for a decade, and a statutory quality mark that was legislated in 2019 has only just authorised its first schools. This article maps what is verifiably in force in August 2026, and where the open edges are.

Who is affected

The rules attach to student immigration, not to teaching as such. Students from the EEA and Switzerland can enrol at any school; the ILEP and TrustEd Ireland matter the moment you recruit non-EEA/non-Swiss nationals who need a study visa or immigration permission. The ILEP page states it plainly: such students “can only be recruited to programmes listed on the Interim List of Eligible Programmes (ILEP) or to eligible programmes offered by providers with authorisation to use the TrustEd” mark. For English language study, immigration permission is granted for a programme of at least 25 weeks, with permission of up to 8 months at the registration officer’s discretion, and it carries a concession to take up casual employment with restrictions — which is exactly why the state inspects whether students actually sit in class.

A school that only serves EEA students is outside this regime — but for most Irish ELT schools, visa-required markets are the growth markets, which makes the list question existential.

The current framework, as of August 2026

Three moving parts define the transition:

  • The ILEP is closed but still operating. The Interim List, administered by the Department of Justice’s Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) since 2015, had its criteria last updated on 21 March 2025 and its final update published on 20 June 2025; it “remains closed to new applicant providers”. Schools with listed programmes may keep recruiting non-EEA students as long as they stay compliant — ISD reserves unannounced inspections, spot checks and data returns, and any change to staffing, premises, learner protection, ownership or governance must be notified within five working days.
  • TrustEd Ireland is live. TrustEd Ireland is the brand of the statutory International Education Mark created by the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act 2019, with the provider due-diligence bar set by the Capacity and Capability Criteria Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 427 of 2024), in operation since 1 September 2024. Formally it is voluntary — but QQI’s page for English language providers is explicit that authorisation “will be required by providers in order to be eligible to recruit non-EU/EEA/Swiss learners who require study visas/permissions”. The second application window ran from 13 October 2025 to 27 March 2026 as the final opportunity before the interim list closes; QQI quotes an average assessment time of around 30 weeks, including a self-assessment report, an expert panel and a site visit. On 5 August 2026 the first five ELE providers were authorised, with further decisions expected in Q4 2026.
  • The older schemes end without automatic transfer. There is “no automatic transition” from ACELS, QQI’s long-standing voluntary recognition scheme, to TrustEd Ireland — an ACELS badge does not carry over. The industry association formerly known as MEI, now English Education Ireland with around 62 member schools, remains a private quality network, not a substitute for state authorisation.

One caution belongs in every planning document: the published timelines have not always agreed with each other (QQI materials have described a two-year wind-down, while the August 2026 announcement puts the ILEP’s end at the end of 2026). Treat every date here as “verify before you rely on it”.

What schools must deliver

For schools still operating under ILEP listings, the English Language Programme criteria remain binding, and they are concrete:

  • Programme shape — full-time daytime tuition between 9am and 5pm on at least four weekdays, at least 15 clock-hours of tuition per week excluding breaks, at least 25 weeks and 375 tuition hours within a 7-month period, and a mandatory end-of-programme exam from the approved list. Timetables must be published on the school’s website, handed to each student in writing, and holidays may never exceed one third of the weeks elapsed.
  • Attendance — a minimum of 85% attendance for every enrolled student, with a documented, publicly available recording system. Arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving early counts as absent. Teachers sign the attendance sheets and total them; manual sheets are retained for at least 12 months and checked against computer records on inspection. If a student accumulates 25% or more uncertified absence in the first six weeks, the school must report it to ISD together with the measures taken — and a student who can no longer reach 85% must be told so, with the fact communicated to ISD. Make-up classes to repair the percentage are explicitly not permitted.
  • Classes and people — no more than 15 students per class, no switching classes mid-programme; staff responsible for attendance records must not themselves be non-EEA students.
  • Money and protection — compulsory learner protection covering each student from enrolment to the final exam, plus a separate client account for advance payments tied to the visa process: if the visa is refused, the money (less a pre-indicated handling charge) must be back with the student within 20 working days.

Under TrustEd Ireland the duties shift from a list of immigration conditions to a statutory quality regime: corporate fitness under the 2024 regulations, QQI’s Code of Practice for English language education (premises, management, programme design, learner supports, marketing, enrolment and fees) and its statutory quality assurance guidelines, contribution to a statutory Learner Protection Fund — and, explicitly, continued cooperation with the Department of Justice “in monitoring student compliance with immigration law”. Attendance does not stop mattering; it changes addressee.

Transition pitfalls

  1. Sitting out the transition. The final TrustEd application window before the ILEP closes has already passed, and assessment averages about 30 weeks. A school that waited risks a gap in which it simply cannot recruit visa-required students.
  2. Assuming old badges carry over. Neither an ILEP listing nor ACELS recognition converts into TrustEd Ireland authorisation. Each school goes through the full assessment — self-assessment, panel, site visit.
  3. Letting ILEP compliance slide because “it’s ending anyway”. Until the list actually ceases, non-compliance can cost a school every listing at once — and with the list closed, there is no way back on.
  4. Attendance records that would not survive a spot check. The criteria let inspectors compare signed paper sheets against computer records and request student-level data returns. Two systems that disagree are worse than one.
  5. Planning on a single published date. The timelines have shifted between documents; whoever owns compliance in your school should re-check the QQI and ISD pages quarterly.

Where management software helps

None of this is a software problem first — but almost every obligation above produces records, and records are what inspections consume. Concretely, with a system like Fidelo School: teachers record attendance, class content and progress through their own login, so the signed register and the digital record are the same record; daily or weekly attendance turns into warnings, progress reports and certificates — useful when 85% is a hard threshold and early absence must be escalated rather than discovered at week twenty; classes sit on a visual roster with teachers assigned by availability and qualification, which keeps class sizes and timetables inspectable; and the reporting module compiles student-level statistics in the formats that a data-return request assumes. Payment lists for incoming amounts also make the separate visa account something you can reconcile instead of reconstruct. If you are choosing systems during the transition, our selection checklist covers the questions that matter for a regulated school.

The transition to TrustEd Ireland is the biggest change Irish ELT regulation has seen in a decade, and parts of it are still moving. What a school can control today is the quality of its own evidence — attendance, timetables, protections, money — so that whichever list it stands on, the records already speak for it.