Almost 300 new residents in Ireland through investment in 2019
Published at: 03/02/2020 11:31 am
The Irish Immigrant Investor Programme started in 2012 and it receives hundreds of applicants every year. The residents may live and work in Ireland with their family and travel freely between the UK and Ireland (the EU member state Ireland is not in the Schengen Area). Moreover, the resident must not live in the country it is enough to visit it once per year.
Successful applicants receive the Irish residence permit initially for two years and must be renewed again after three and later after five years.
The residents can apply for citizenship after the usual five years of physical residence In Ireland.
Until November 2019, 296 wealthy investors obtained the Irish residence permit through investment. However there was a short pause to launch enhanced controls, more severe personal and financial checks to clear the source of wealth of the applicants.
There are several investment options for the candidates who wish to reside in Ireland in exchange for investment or donation.
- You can invest €1,000,000 in an enterprise, fund or bond
- You can invest €2,000,000 in a real estate investment trust which is quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange
- You can donate €500,000 to a registered charity.
- If there are five or more investors, they are allowed to donate a smaller amount of €400,000 as well.
The Irish residency by investment scheme is run through the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, a subsidiary of the Department of Justice.
Ireland has another immigration scheme, the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme.
This solution attracts talents with 12,5% corporate tax rate and other incentives. The primary requisite of this entrepreneur immigration program is that the applicant must prove access to €75,000 to develop the start-up. No initial job creation is needed. However, the business must be capable of creating ten local jobs and sell €1,000,000 in sales per annum within three years of starting up. Other requirements are that the firm must show an experienced team of managers. The firm must be registered in Ireland and must have the headquarter there as well and must be younger than six years.
Do you want to live in Europe and become a resident of the Schengen zone? Click here for all the detailed information on the residency by investment schemes of Europe!