The Immigrant Investor golden visa programme was terminated effective from 15 February 2023 5.15 pm. The Immigration department of Ministry of Justice announced the proposed closure of the IIP will not affect existing projects already approved under the programme. Existing approved projects will also continue to be able to source any new investors required to complete the funding of projects already approved. All existing (approved) projects will continue to be monitored by the Department of Justice in relation to delivery of the project and for compliance purposes. Projects approved by the Minister are expected to be completed as soon as possible, and no later than the timeframe set out in their business plan. Short extensions of the timeframe may be granted at the discretion of the Minister. The IIP Unit will liaise with projects in relation to any specific issues of concern to them which are highlighted at an early stage.
The Minister for Justice and For Higher and Further Education, Simon Harris TD has announced the closure of the IIP. All four investment options: Enterprise Investment, Endowment Investment, REIT and Fund Investments are being shut down under this decision. In taking this action Minister Harris said that that the Programme had fulfilled its purpose – It was brought in over a decade ago (in 2012) when a struggling economy needed investment, however our changed circumstances meant that such investment routes were no longer a good fit for the needs of a thriving economy and society. The Minister also noted the serious concerns that been expressed about immigrant investment programmes generally by The EU Commission, Council of Europe and OECD in a number of studies in relation to border security, money laundering, tax evasion and circumvention of EU law. The Minister also said that the Programme gave rise to issues of a broader public policy concern. While the Minister was satisfied that the IIP was operated by his Department to the highest professional standards, the combination of these factors make it timely to close off the programme.
The Immigrant Investor Programme had fulfilled its purpose
Minister Harris, Department of Justice
Below we reproduce the parliamentary debate, answers given by Secretary General of Department of Justice on the the reasons behind Government’s decision to terminate the immigrant investor visa route. .
The immigrant investor programme ran from 2012 until February of this year, when the Minister, Deputy Harris, obtained approval from the Government to close the programme to further new applications from 15 February 2023 5.15pm. The programme was established during a time of unprecedented economic difficulty to stimulate investment in Ireland that would be of strategic and public benefit to the State. In fairness, the programme did make a contribution to attracting inward investment and particularly job creation at a very difficult time. The State’s position is now thankfully vastly different, and while the programme served a purpose in generating investment for job creation projects at a point in time, the nature of the programme shifted over recent years so that its purpose is no longer justified in the context of the risks. The risk environment has also changed, and Ireland is not alone in reconsidering the continued appropriateness of such programmes.
Ms Oonagh McPhillips, Secretary General, Department of Justice
Since the start of the scheme in 2012, there have been 1,788 investors approved to date. 1350 applications were received in 2023. We would have more than that on hand in terms of applications. It is closer to 3,000, we reckon. The cumulative investment for the current approved applications under the international investor programme €1.2 billion to the end of 2022. 94% of applications are from China.
Proportionality is an issue. The dominance of any particular country would be of concern and that is a feature of the issues raised by the international bodies
Ms Oonagh McPhillips
If one looks at the numbers from 2012 to 2021, the highest of those years was 2019, which saw 443 applications. In 2022, that number was 1,316, which was three times the previous highest. That was a concern in the context of the global risk and in the context of our own scheme and our capacity to manage that risk. the scheme has had a positive impact. It is about whether that positive impact outweighs the significant risk. That was what we had to assess and our assessment was that it no longer balanced that risk for various public policy reasons. That view was shared by the EU and many of its institutions, including the European Commission, the Financial Action Task Force and the Council of Europe. That assessment was part of the whole.
One of the impacts it had, in these islands, if you like, is the UK closed its scheme in early March 2022 in response to the building up of difficulties in Ukraine. That had a significant impact on the risk environment. The other marked change in 2022 was the number of applications. The actual application numbers really increased during 2022.
