Over half of foreign nationals with PPS numbers work

More than half of the 94,978 foreign nationals who were allocated new PPS numbers last year had employment activity during 2016, while new data from the Central Statistics Office also shows 589 PPSNs have been issued in the past five years to people from ‘unknown’ countries.

Analysis of records of the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, and the CSO also shows the number of PPSNs issued to foreign nationals was almost double the number issued in 2012, when 57,946 foreign nationals aged 15 and over were assigned PPSNs. Of that 2012 cohort, the analysis shows 13,759 had some employment activity at some stage during last year.

UK nationals have consistently topped the table over the years when it comes to being issued Irish PPSNs — last year 15,917 PPSNs were issued to UK citizens.