The Minister of Justice Flanagan, while answering in the Parliament this month, has made absolutely clear that the State does not operate a ‘passports for sale scheme’ and that an investment under the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) does not confer any preferential entitlement to citizenship or an Irish passport.
The IIP provides non-EEA nationals with a number of options to invest in Ireland, and successful applicants are granted a permission to reside in Ireland for a fixed period. An investment of €1 million in projects must be made for a minimum of three years, which may be renewable following a review.
If the investment is withdrawn or an investor fails to comply with any of the terms and conditions of the programme, the permission to reside in Ireland maybe withdrawn. An Evaluation Committee comprising representatives of a number of Departments and State Agencies considers the applications.
He also announced a total of half billion euro investments received under Irish immigrant investor scheme since the launch a total of 420 applications were received in 2018 of which 379 are currently being processed. Decisions on a significant number of these applications are expected in the coming weeks once processing has been completed.
A major external review of the IIP is underway and a tender process will be launched shortly to select a suitable candidate to undertake an independent evaluation. It is expected that the review will be concluded in the first half of 2019.
Minister Flanagan further added Irish citizenship through naturalisation is governed by the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are processed and assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Act. A determination on whether an applicant satisfies the statutory criteria attendant to naturalisation can only be made after an application is received.
In general, it takes 6 months for a fully completed standard application to be processed from the date it is received to the date a decision is made. The nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases can take longer than others to process.
