Ireland has announced immediate closure of Ireland Immigrant Investor Program (aka Golden visa) effective from Feb 15, 2023. No new applications will be accepted from this date. Current applications will be reviewed. This comes at a time Ireland following the path of UK, which already terminated its golden ticket route for investments in 2020.
According to the official announcement by Ministry of Justice, The Minister for Justice Simon Harris has obtained approval from Government to close the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) to further applications from close of business tomorrow, 15 February 2023.
Minister Harris stated “We have also taken on board a number of reports and findings from international bodies such as the EU Commission, Council of Europe and OECD on similar investment programmes. “Taking all of this into account, and informed by both internal and external reviews, I have recommended that it is now timely to close this Programme to new applications, and have received government agreement to close it for further applications from close of business tomorrow, 15 February 2023.”
Since its inception, the Immigrant investor Programme has approved investment of almost €1.252 billion that has benefitted many enterprises both economic and social, including community and sporting organisations. Applications will no longer be accepted from close of business tomorrow, 15 February 2023.
The closure of the Programme will not affect existing projects or individuals already approved under the programme. The Department of Justice will continue to monitor existing approved projects in relation to the delivery and for compliance with the terms of the Programme. Current applications on hand at the time of closure will continue to be considered.
The Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) was launched in 2012 as a pathway for investors to secure immigration permission to Ireland on the basis of long-term investment of a sum of money in a project that has been confirmed as meeting the needs of Ireland by the Department of Justice and other government stakeholders.
