The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service announced that effective April 16, 2012, two new immigration initiatives would be introduced: the Immigrant Investor Programme and the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme. These two initiatives are designed to provide residency facilitation for foreign investors or entrepreneurs who can create jobs or retain existing positions. These will replace the existing business permission visa.
As a leading institution in the Chinese immigration industry, Worldway Group is the first to globally launch these two programmes and has officially begun accepting applications from investors.
The Irish immigration scheme draws on the strengths of various international immigration policies and adopts a series of measures to tap into the entrepreneurial potential of immigrants. For several years, the Irish Department of Justice has been implementing a business permission scheme, but the public has considered the conditions of this scheme to be too stringent. The existing business permission lacks the flexibility needed to attract entrepreneurs.
The Immigrant Investor Programme will allow individual investors and their immediate family members to enter the country on multiple-entry visas and reside for a specified period. It is estimated that such visas will be renewable for 5 years, with a potential review after 2 years. The investments referred to in the programme include specially issued low-yield government bonds, capital investments in Irish enterprises—where the purpose is to protect existing jobs or create new ones—or, in certain cases, the purchase of real estate, including real estate held by the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Donations to the arts, sports, education, or health sectors also fall under this investment category.
The amount and duration of the capital required from investors depend on the nature of the investment. Generally, the minimum is a donation-based investment of over 500,000 euros, while the maximum is the new immigrant investor low-yield government bond jointly designed by NAMA and the immigration authorities, requiring over 2 million euros. These bonds will be held by NAMA and used for the overall benefit of Ireland.
The investment amount in business entities that create or retain jobs is generally 1 million euros. The Department of Justice will consider and accept the advice and professional opinions of the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) Ireland and Enterprise Ireland when evaluating investment applications.
The Immigrant Investor Programme aims to attract individuals with successful business backgrounds to invest and reside in Ireland. The programme has designed different investment requirements based on the nature of the investment:
• A one-time donation of over 500,000 euros to public sectors such as arts, sports, health, or education.
• Purchase of low-yield immigrant investor government bonds of over 2 million euros, to be held for at least 5 years. NAMA will release details regarding this investment in the coming weeks. These bonds will only be sold to participants in the programme and may not be traded on any market.
• Venture capital investment of over 1 million euros in an Irish enterprise for a period of no less than 3 years. Investments in Irish listed companies are also included in this category, though the required investment amount is higher.
• A mixed investment of over 1 million euros, with 50% invested in real estate and 50% in government bonds. Special attention should be paid to real estate acquisition projects already implemented by NAMA. In such cases, an investment of 1 million euros in real estate may be sufficient.
Under the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme, immigrants with excellent business ideas containing innovative economic elements who invest at least 70,000 euros to develop and operate the project in Ireland will be permitted to reside there during this period. The previous business permission visa required at least 300,000 euros in capital. In comparison, this programme is more flexible as it does not require setting initial job creation targets. It is understood that these businesses will take time to become profitable, so entrepreneurs who have submitted applications will be given some preparation time. An evaluation committee, in conjunction with national departments, will assess the projects and be responsible for selecting applicants with outstanding ideas or the potential to become successful business developers. The Start-up Entrepreneur Programme recognizes the need to foster start-ups in key innovative economic sectors. Enterprise Ireland has extensive experience in running similar programmes, and their opinions will be highly valued.
