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Ireland’s Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), which is equal to the Golden Visa scheme, permitting non-EU nationals to acquire residency in this territory provided they make an investment, has been abolished, the Minister of Justice, Simon Harris, has confirmed.
Regarding the issue, the Minister said that such a program -which has often been accused of being involved in many unlawful affairs- has been under review for quite a period while adding that strong advice was presented to him, which led him to terminate this scheme, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In taking the final decision regarding the abolishment of the Golden Visa scheme, the Minister said that the attitudes of some international organisations regarding these kinds of investments were also taken into consideration.
Minister Harris said that reviews had focused on the suitability of this scheme, counting also for cultural as well as social and economic use; however, he concluded that the program 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 noted, according to a report provided by RTE.
Authorities in Ireland introduced the IIP scheme in 2012, thus permitting wealthy internationals to acquire residency, provided they made a financial contribution to the country, therefore helping the further growth of the economic sector. In addition, since 2012, this program has brought €1.17 billion to Ireland, while the majority of investments were made by Chinese nationals.
In order to benefit from this scheme, applicants had to have a personal wealth of at least €2 million, while in order to acquire residency from this scheme, wealthy foreign nationals were required to invest at least €1 million in Ireland for a minimum of three years.
A previous report provided in December by the Irish Times revealed that Ireland’s Immigrant Investor Program saw a surge in the number of applications in the last months of 2022especially from Chinese nationals.
However, even though the IIP scheme attracted a large number of internationals, it has often been accused of turning a blind eye to many illicit acts such as money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the government of Ireland has no official records related to commission fees paid by charities and companies in return for the money they received under the IIP scheme. Such comments came from the Department of Justice of Ireland.
Up to this point, several European countries offer the Golden Visa Program for wealthy internationals, with Portugal, Greece, Latvia, Spain, and Montenegro considered to have Europe’s favourite schemes of this kind.
However, Ireland is not the only European country that decided to shut down its residency by investment scheme. Following ongoing reports of its involvement in the illicit acts, in March last year, Latvia announced that wealthy internationals would no longer be eligible to benefit from its Golden Visa scheme.
Amid raised concerns of remaining an open door to money laundering, corruption, and similar acts, authorities in Bulgaria and Latvia also terminated their Golden Visa Programs.
A similar announcement was also made by Portugal’s Government, with its Prime Minister, Antonio Costa announcing that the country is considering abolishing the Residency by Investment Scheme; however, such a step has not been taken yet.
Spain’s Golden Visa scheme has also been in the spotlight of many similar accusations, while recently authorities in this country confirmed that the former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, investigated by Mexico’s attorney general office for illicit enrichment, money laundering, and illegal international transfers also benefited from this scheme offered by authorities in Spain.
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