The demise of the “golden visa” scheme for millionaire immigrants was a long time coming but abrupt in the end. The door slammed shut only one day after the Cabinet resolved the scheme should not go on.
The Government decision followed a surge in applications from China, of which there were 1,275 in 2022 compared with only 41 from the rest of the world.
Be they from the Chinese mainland or the Hong Kong financial centre, more than 100 millionaires sought Irish residency every single month last year.
That fuelled anxiety in justice circles in Dublin that scheme benefits had tilted disproportionately in favour of people from one place. That Ministers opted to scrap the scheme rather than suspend it speaks volumes. Due diligence was a challenge, there were worries too about the appropriateness of passive donor money being used for social endowments and concern about another flood of applications coming in if closure was delayed.
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In business terms, however, this is something of a political lightning strike. Big developers such as Bartra and Fitzwilliam, who claim to have received tens of millions of euro via the Immigrant Investor Programme, may have to tap alternative funding. Legal and accounting firms, who did well on the advisory side, will have to look elsewhere.
Still, IIP projects “significantly developed” but without applications formally submitted will be given three months to finalise them. A similar grace period applies to investment funds approved for IIP which have not reached minimum target size or full subscription level.
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That will be of little comfort to institutions like Trinity College Dublin and housing charities like iCare, which received bountiful IIP endowments. The same goes for GAA and other sporting bodies. Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club, which runs the Dublin women’s mini-marathon, declared €9.36 million in IIP contributions.
