Calls for investigation into axed golden visa scheme
A golden visa scheme giving residency in Ireland and access to Europe has generated €500 million since it was axed by the Government two years ago.
However the Government does not know how many “immigration permissions” it issued under the scheme.
Figures relating to the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) were revealed to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland as it emerged the Department of Justice, which runs the programme, cannot detail how many “immigration permissions” were associated with the 2,472 approved project applications it rubber stamped since its inception in 2012.
On top of this, 83 applications submitted to the programme after it was axed are now being processed.
Sinn Féin is calling for this to be investigated.
The IIP offered investors and their families residency visas, called immigration permissions, in Ireland in return for investing large sums of money in projects.
The programme opened in 2012, when the economy needed investment, and was officially closed in February 2023 by the then justice minister Simon Harris.
The IIP, which has also been labelled as a ‘golden visa programme’, provided high-net-worth individuals with the right to live, work, study and start businesses in Ireland once they invested and met specific investment criteria.
Residency
Under the programme, investors could get a two-year residency in Ireland when they invested into the scheme.
The residence permission could be extended for a further three years, and then an additional five years following reviews by the State.
After this, those who have maintained residency through the IIP could become eligible for Irish citizenship.
To qualify the investors needed a net worth of €2m and could put money in one of four options.
The options were putting €1m in an Irish enterprise for at least three years; €1m in an approved investment fund for at least three years; a minimum of €2min to Real Estate Investment Trusts or a minimum €500,000 (or €400,000 where five or more applications are received) philanthropic donation to a project which is of public benefit to the arts, sports, health, culture or education in Ireland.
Real examples of this would have been GAA development projects throughout the country.
The IIP allowed non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, and family members, to gain Irish residency by investing money in those types of projects.
Promotional material from the Department of Justice and Dáil Parliamentary responses to questions stated that “successful applicants under the Immigrant Investment Programme and their nominated family members may be granted a residence permission in Ireland”.
The Government closed the IIP because it said there were “serious concerns” expressed about immigrant investment programmes by the EU Commission, Council of Europe and OECD in relation to “border security, money laundering, tax evasion and circumvention of EU law”.
“The programme gave rise to issues of a broader public policy concern,” the Department of Justice states on its website.
Approved investments
Figures show 2,482 approved investments in Ireland since the scheme opened in 2012, until the end of 2024.
The number of immigration permissions relating to these applications cannot be given or detailed by the Department of Justice.
The department said it does not have figures on the numbers of people “granted a residence permission in Ireland” from the programme.
“Statistics are not maintained in such a way as to provide the information on all IIP residence permissions granted,” the department said in a statement.
“Each individual’s immigration record will detail the reason why they been granted an immigration permission and this includes successful IIP applicants.
“Data is currently not collated in a manner which allows for the extraction of information beyond the Stamp category granted, i.e., Stamp 1, Stamp 2, Stamp 3, Stamp 4.”
The stamp categories mentioned by the Department of Justice statement relate to different types of immigration permissions in Ireland.
The Department added it “does not collate the number of permissions granted on the basis of a valid IIP application” and “is satisfied that immigration permissions are only granted on the basis of a successful IIP application.
Each individual permission granted will note the basis for the persons permission”.
Figures show the 2,482 approved investments in Ireland generated €1.7bn, with most of the money coming from Chinese investors. These applications can have more than one investor.
Of the 2,482 applications approved, 94% (2,332) were from China, while 53 were from the US.
Others were countries including Vietnam, Taiwan, South Africa and Vanuatu.
In 2023 and 2024 there were 794 applications approved.
These applications generated more than €503m.
This means about 30% of the total €1.7bn investment between in that 12-year period were generated in the last two years of the scheme, so far, to the end of 2024.
Despite being closed, much more investment could flow into Ireland through the defunct scheme.
100 applications – associated with 1,700 investors – are being assessed and processed by the Government.
Criticism
The fact the scheme is still processing applications – some submitted after the IIP was shut – has been criticised.
Sophie in ‘t Veld, a former member of the European Parliament and former rapporteur for the parliaments legislative proposal to regulate “golden visa” programmes and axe “golden passport” schemes, criticised the Irish Government for not closing the IIP immediately.
She said that any applications submitted after the programme closed should not be processed.
The figures show that 83 applications currently being processed were submitted after the programme closed on 15 February 2023.
The department confirmed in a statement that “as of February this year, 83 post closure projects are on hand”.
It added: “In the short period allowed following the announced closure of the programme, the IIP unit received over 140 new project applications. A considerable number of projects were ruled out for not having a valid investor application associated with the project proposal by the closure deadline. A number of other projects were ruled out of scope.”
To put this into context, when the scheme closed the Department of Justice said there were “a number of projects where an application has not been formally submitted but which have been significantly developed following contact with the IIP Unit of the Department of Justice. It is proposed that such projects be given a period of three months in which to finalise and submit their applications. Otherwise, the scheme will be closed to new applications from close of business on 15 February 2023”.
Ms in ‘t Veld questioned the legal basis for applications not formally submitted before the IIP closed.
She said any application “that was not on the table at the moment the programme closed should not be processed” because there is a question about the “legal basis” of the application and awarding or a visa or immigration permit.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said it is not clear on what grounds an investor gets an immigration permit if their application was submitted after the programme closed.
She called on the Government to clarify what the legal status of these applications is.
‘Open to abuse’
Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire also questioned the legal basis of applications submitted after the deadline and that needs to be investigated.
The Cork South Central TD called on the Minister for Justice to investigate applications that were submitted after the deadline.
“The scheme was open to abuse. There is an issue of principle there as to whether residency should simply be something that if you have enough money that you can obtain it. I don’t think that that’s right,” he said.
“I do think it needs to be examined if people didn’t actually formally have applications in at the time of the closing of the applications … then on what legal basis were later applications, than that processed and approved?
“If they weren’t in, if the application wasn’t in at the date, a completed application, or at least a seriously advanced application wasn’t in before the programme was closed, then I don’t think that should be processed. It certainly needs to be investigated,” he said.
Asked what the Minister of Justice should do, Mr Ó Laoghaire said: “If there have been applications processed without an application having actually been substantially advanced, then I think that needs to be investigated”.
“I think with any scheme you expect that when a scheme is closed that that is the end of that and that maybe you process whatever applications are in [at the closing date]. So I think there is a questionable legal basis for the processing of applications. If the application wasn’t already in and significantly advanced,” he added.
Other opposition politicians have called for the programme to be closed completely.
Calls for scheme to be shut
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the scheme should be shut.
“The idea of golden visa schemes is utterly repugnant to any democratic notion of citizenship, of access to citizenship, of pathways to citizenship.
“The idea that people with a lot of money could effectively be able to buy themselves a way of getting citizenship, later down the line, is overly offensive.
“I don’t think we should be processing these applications anymore. This was shut at short notice because internally the Government recognised it is a problematic scheme.
“It can displace other investment. It can be used for money laundering. It can be used for tax evasion. I think this scheme should now be stopped entirely.
“We should not be processing any more applications. We should not be giving special privileged access to visas and the possibility of citizenship down the line to people on the basis of wealth,” said TD for Dublin South West
The Department of Justice was contacted for reaction to calls for the scheme to be closed and investigated.
It said in a statement “applications were accepted in line with the wind down announcement” with applications “accepted until close of business on the 15th February 2023 and a number of pending applications were also given three months to finalise their applications”.
Article Source – Calls for investigation into axed golden visa scheme – RTE
