Ireland’s government is unsure when it comes to the number of residency permits granted under the country’s Golden Visa Program which was abolished two years ago.
A report from RTE says that the Irish Department of Justice, which managed the program, revealed that a total of 2,472 project applications have been approved since 2012 when the scheme was launched. However, it fails to provide details when it comes to the number of residency permits issued through this scheme, Schengen.News reports.
The Department said that it does not have the statistics on the number of people granted residence permission in Ireland from this scheme.
Statistics are not maintained in such a way as to provide the information on all IIP residence permissions granted.
Ireland’s Golden Visa Program Was Terminated in 2023
Ireland’s Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) offered residency to wealthy foreign nationals in exchange for investments in projects.
Once obtaining residency through this program foreigners were eligible to legally live, work, and study or start a business in Ireland. However, the scheme was officially terminated in February 2023 by former Justice Minister, Simon Harris.
Announcing the decision, the former Minister said that the program was under review for quite a period stressing that strong advice was presented to him, which led to take such a decision. The Golden Visa Program of Ireland has often been accused of its involvement in several irregular affairs such as money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption.
The program brought Ireland over €1.17 billion since its introduction. Top beneficiaries of this scheme were nationals of China, and the United States, followed by those from Vietnam, Taiwan, South Africa, and Vanuatu.
“Applications Submitted After the Abolishment of the Program Should Not Be Processed”
At present, there are a total of 83 applications still being processed after the program ended.
The processing of applications, after the termination of the program has raised concerns in Ireland.
In addition, a former member of the European Parliament, Sophie in ‘t Veld, criticised the government of Ireland for not closing the program immediately.
She told RTE that any application submitted after the termination of this scheme should not be processed.
But, the Department of Justice confirmed that there are still 83 post-closure projects being processed.
In the short period allowed following the announced closure of the program, 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.
The decision to accept applications after the closure of the program has often been discussed among authorities in Ireland.