Wealthy foreign investors will no longer be eligible to acquire residency in Ireland through the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) after the Minister of Justice, Simon Harris, confirmed that this scheme has been terminated.
Despite the fact that Ireland didn’t offer a Golden Visa Program, the IIP was considered equal to this scheme, permitting non-EU nationals to acquire residency in this country, provided they made a financial contribution to this country by investing, VisaGuide.World reports.
Ireland’s Minister of Justice said that the scheme was under review for a quiet period, stressing that strong advice was introduced to him, which led to taking the final decision and officially abolishing this program.
He noted that the attitudes of international organizations regarding these types of investments were also considered when deciding to put an end to this scheme.
In addition, Harris stressed that reviews regarding the Immigrant Investor Program had focused on the suitability of this program, taking also into account cultural, economic and social use, while adding that the scheme was of its time.
“Taking all of this into account, and informed by both internal and external reviews, I have recommended that it is now time to close this program to new applications,” the Minister pointed out regarding the issue, according to a report provided by RTE.
The IIP was introduced back in 2012 by authorities in Ireland, and since then, it brought a total of €1.17 billion to Ireland. It was reported that the majority of foreigners who benefited from this scheme were citizens of China.
Wealthy internationals were obliged to have a personal wealth of at least €2 million and make an investment of at least €1 million in this country for a minimum of three years, in order to acquire residency in Ireland.
However, despite the fact that it helped significantly the further growth of Ireland’s economic sector, the IIP was often involved in many illicit acts, including tax evasion, corruption and money laundering, thus Irish authorities were continuously urged to end this program as soon as possible.
Authorities in Ireland in December last year reported that despite calls that such a program should be terminated, in the last months of 2022, a significant surge was noted in the number of applications for this scheme. Nationals of China were interested the most in Ireland’s IIP scheme, the report noted.
Still, earlier this month, it was reported that Irelands’ government didn’t hold records regarding commission fees that were paid by companies and charities in return for the money they accepted under the IIP scheme.
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