A total of €132 million has been approved in Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) applications for the first nine months of this year, according to figures provided by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. The scheme is enjoying record interest this year, with 192 approved applications so far.
A total of €185 million in application was approved in 2021. A total of €1.17 billion in investments has been approved since the scheme’s introduction in 2012.
Figures provided by Ms McEntee in a written Dáil reply to Labour finance spokesman Ged Nash show that for the first nine months of this year, 812 IIP applications have been lodged with the Department of Justice.
The 812 represents a record amount for any year since 2012; the second-highest total for any 12-month period is the 443 applications received in 2019.
The 812 total to the end of September is also more than a three-fold increase on the 258 applications for the 12 months of 2021 and more than twice the 339 total for 2020.
Ms McEntee has confirmed that the bulk of successful applicants since 2012 are made up of Chinese nationals accounting for 1,511 – or 94 per cent – of 1,613 approved applications.
American citizens are the next highest cohort at 31 followed by Vietnam with 12; Saudi Arabia with five; and South Africa with four. “Rest of world” makes up the remaining 50 approved applications.
The bulk of successful applications have come under the enterprise investment heading accounting for €703 million, with investment funds accounting for a further €217 million.
In her reply to Mr Nash, Ms McEntee said the IIP was introduced to encourage inward investment and create business and employment opportunities in the State.
“The programme provides investors with the opportunity to invest in Ireland. Key to the programme is that the investments are beneficial for Ireland, generate or sustain employment and are generally in the public interest,” she said.
The IIP offers successful non-EEA applicants a Stamp 4 Immigration permission for themselves and their immediate family members for an initial two-year period.
The Department of Justice has stressed that the programme “is not a visa scheme or a citizenship scheme”.
