Ireland is a ‘hidden gem’ in Europe, one of the exciting countries in the world to live, work, study and do business. It is easy to miss out on Ireland, perhaps often overlooked by many golden visa investors. It is also a reason why Irish golden visa (IGV) scheme is not very popular like Portugal or Greece.
You may not know this. This is where Ireland gets interesting: Ireland is a EU member state and shares Common Travel Area with United Kingdom (Ireland is not part of UK). With the Brexit happening in 2021, Ireland is super interesting country for investments. There is a major rush for Irish passports. It is also a EU passport.
- Official EU language(s): Irish, English
- EU member country: since 1 January 1973
- Currency: euro. Euro area member since 1 January 1999
- Schengen: Ireland has negotiated an opt-out from Schengen area.
Ireland does have a golden visa scheme officially known as ‘Immigrant investor scheme’ giving an exciting opportunity to invest in Ireland and become permanent residents (You get Stamp 4 permission direct).
The Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) was introduced by the Irish Government in 2012 to encourage inward investment for the creation of business and employment opportunities in the State.
Ireland will require you to donate €500,000 to charities or make €1 million in investment funds (for 3 years). But there is a cheaper way and many investors dont know this little path.
If you invest jointly , the donation requirement to charities, comes down to €400,000 giving you €100,000 savings. It is the cheapest route to secure a golden visa in Ireland. It cant be cheaper than this. The money to can go to universities, hospitals, senior citizens welfare home, animal welfare (Zoo), sports stadiums. It must be a non profit charity (cannot be a commercial venture). You wont get any returns.
Many agents dont tell you the charity donation, because the entire money goes to benefits of charities and no commission to be made.
The Government will give you further €50,000 discount for investors who wish to educate themselves or their family members in Irish higher education institutions. Remember Ireland has the best universities in the world when it comes to higher education, this comes as a benefit, if you want your children to study in Ireland.
All in all, the true cost of your investment in Ireland is €350,000 with €150,000 savings, at par with Portugal which has the similar investment requirement.
Benefits of IGV
- Fast processing speed and low investment.
- Permanent resident status
- No language requirements,
- Powerful EU passport with Visa-free 172 countries
- One of the highest welfare states in Europe
- Minimum residency requirement – only 1 day per year.
- Irish citizenship after 5 years.
Application conditions
- The main applicant is over 18 years old and the accompanying children are no more than 25 years old
- No criminal record
- The applicant (couple) has 2 million euros in assets.
- Investment (Enterprise) option requires 1 million euros in cash available for investment OR
- Donation (Endowment) option requires €400,000 to be donated into approved charitable project.
- No need to purchase Irish medical insurance
- No financing or loans
Charities
Ireland has tightened regulations on charities receiving endowment under the immigrant investor program (IIP).
INIS has issued a new rule for charities taking endowments are prohibited from making payments to agents or consultants in the form of finder’s fees. Further no deductions from endowment payments allowed.
Citizenship
When it comes to citizenship, the Irish Government has made it clear that Investors and their family members who exercise their right not to reside in Ireland under the Immigrant Investor Programme will not fulfil the residency requirements for naturalisation.
We assist clients with donation option with charities in Ireland. Please contact us for more information.
