Ireland Investment Visa

From an entrepreneurship point of view, Ireland is one of the most prolific countries in Europe and the European Union. While citizens of EU member states do not need a specific visa to immigrate to Ireland in order to start a business here, non-EU citizens are required to obtain appropriate immigration documents if they want to obtain an Ireland investment visa.

As an investor relocated here for business purposes, you must also make sure that you have an Irish residence permit, regardless of the immigration program you participate in.

If you want to invest in Ireland in 2024 and you need to apply for a visa for investments/business, you can always rely on our lawyer for legal advice, who can present all the visa options available for businessmen.

One of the ways to apply for a visa for investments in 2024 is to register for the Start-up Entrepreneur Program, which was enforced in 2012. You can ask for the support of our immigration lawyers in Ireland, who can help you apply for this program.

If you want to permanently relocate here, you must know that you can obtain Irish citizenship as well, and this can also apply to your family members who have relocated here. However, it is worth knowing that Ireland does not provide any immigration program that can offer citizenship via an Ireland investment visa.

The most important right investors can gain via an investment visa is permanent residency, but current immigration programs do not grant automatic permanent residency, but rather temporary residency followed by permanent residency if the investment conditions are maintained.

How can investors apply for the Ireland investment visa?

Foreign businessmen who are interested in an Ireland investment visa for a start-up program can apply for a visa that is specifically designed for start-up companies. The capital investment is maintained at a low value for the start-up visa, which makes it very accessible for investors.

Foreign businessmen can apply for the Start-up Entrepreneur Program (STEP) if they reside in a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA). In order to participate in this program, the investor has to provide extensive details on his or her business and on the innovative characteristics of the said business, regardless if the company will create a high-tech product or innovative service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ4_J9zSIo4

Those who want to move to Ireland for this purpose must know that the minimum investment for the STEP program is of EUR 50,000. In order to achieve other requirements of the program, investors have to register a company in Ireland, that will function in this country.

You can request in-depth legal assistance and legal representation on this matter from our immigration lawyer in Ireland, but you can also observe some of the characteristics of the program in the list below:

• the company in Ireland has to create an innovative product or service that will have the potential of being sold on international markets;
• the company can be involved in the manufacturing of the said product or services;
• the company can also operate as a business involved in services traded at a global level;
• the start-up company must be able to create 10 new jobs on the Irish employment market;
• in terms of revenues, the company must achieve EUR 1 million in sales in a period of 3-4 years since its incorporation;
• the founders must be able of hiring a management team with experience in the field and, of course, the company has to be managed from Ireland.

Up until recently, investors were allowed to move to Ireland for a period of 12 months for the preparation of their documents and participation in various start-up programs, with the purpose of entering the STEP program.

In this sense, the participants of this program received a 12 month immigration permission, which provided the right to reside in Ireland. However, those who apply in 2024 must know that the residency rights have been expanded to 2 years of residency, granted not only to the investors but to their family members as well.

Please know that the program grants, overall, the right to residency for 5 years, which means that it can be used as a way to permanent residency.

However, this program does not provide citizenship rights (most of the European investment programs have limited the rights granted to foreign investors only to permanent residency and they no longer include direct citizenship rights, and Ireland is in line with these regulations as well. For citizenship, investors will have to participate in the standard citizenship by naturalization program).

One must know that the STEP application process has to be started here and that this program is also addressed to young persons who are enrolled in STEM tertiary studies in Ireland (STEM defines a wide range of specializations related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) who want to participate in the STEP program.

Please mind that the STEP program is open solely to certain industries; for instance, companies operating in the retail industry are not entitled to enter this program. You can request more information on this matter from our immigration lawyer in Ireland.

When applying for this program, the applicant has to pay a fee of EUR 350, a fee that is non-refundable, regardless of the outcome of the application. When submitting the papers, after the fee is paid, an Independent Evaluation Committee will analyze the application.

In the situation in which the committee considers that the project is realistic and can actually be implemented, the application will be sent to the Ministry of Justice for further clarifications. Please mind that in this phase of the evaluation, you may need to submit additional documents, if the Irish authorities may need further details.

If the application will receive a positive answer from the Ministry of Justice, then you will receive the right to move to Ireland for the purpose of starting a business. When relocating to Ireland, you will need to comply with additional requirements, outside the ones imposed for this visa program.

For instance, you will have to work full-time on your newly founded company and you will also not have other employment arrangements than the ones of your business for which you have received the STEP visa. In the case in which you will fail to comply with all the requirements, the Irish state can withdraw the right to residency.

We invite you to address to our immigration lawyer in Ireland for in-depth advice on the application process; you can also request information on the law regulating the registration of a company or other regulations that can be helpful for foreign investors.

What documents are necessary for the STEP visa?

The law on immigration to Ireland prescribes a set of documents that have to be submitted by any eligible applicant interested in a business/investment visa. For the STEP visa, investors must prepare the following documentation:

• the investor’s passport;
• the passport of his or her family members (spouse and children – if it is applicable);
• provided that the investor will move to Ireland with close family members, the documents that attest the family ties must be added to the file (birth certificates, marriage certificate, adoption papers);
• documents attesting the minimum capital;
• company documents.

Why choose Ireland for investment?

When applying for an investment visa in a foreign country, businessmen will always assess the quality of the preferred market. The decision to select one country instead of another can be influenced by the industry in which the investors operate and the conditions of the new market for the said industry.

Taxation, incentives, policies for foreign direct investments, the quality of the workforce and many others are also of interest. The same applies to those who apply for an Ireland investment visa, therefore, in the list below, you can discover some key elements of the Irish economy, as presented by the Industrial Development Agency (IDA):

• 1 in 3 multinational companies have been located on a long-term basis in Ireland (more than 20 years);
• the country is a hub for medical technology companies (14 out of the top 15 companies are located here);
• it is also a major center for financial companies, with 8 out of top 10 companies registered in in Ireland;
• the world’s top 5 software companies have chosen Ireland as a place of business and the same applies to automation businesses (top 5 global companies).

Foreign investors can rest assured on the fact that they can find in Ireland a diverse business market, as, according to IDA, more than 1,700 multinationals operate in this small country (with 5 million inhabitants).

Foreign direct investments have had a positive impact on the Irish society, as the estimates show foreign companies account for 25% of the private employment market (as direct and indirect employment). We invite you to address our team if you want to apply for permanent residence in Ireland as a businessman.

We can help your family members in the same process, and, of course, if you plan to remain here on an indefinite basis, you can rely on our legal advice regarding the steps for citizenship in Ireland. Citizenship procedures can be initiated after 5 years of stay as a permanent resident, according to the law on immigration in Ireland.

Although it may seem like a long period of time, Ireland applies the same naturalization rules which can be met in the majority of European states. Recently, the Irish authorities have decided to apply the same naturalization rules for holders of the Ireland investment visa, following the European directives (in the past, investors could enjoy a more relaxed immigration route).

Obtaining residency and citizenship in Ireland

In general, a person can obtain permanent residence in Ireland in a period of 5 years since the arrival. The obligation to apply for a residence permit appears when a foreigner relocates to this country for a period longer than 90 days.

The foreigner will initially obtain a temporary residence permit, issued for the purpose of the arrival (investments, business, work, study, family reunification, etc.). Investors who will receive permanent residence can use this right for the purpose of applying for citizenship in Ireland, if they want to become citizens.

In Ireland, a person can acquire citizenship by 3 main options – naturalization, by birth or by descent. In most cases, foreigners will have to start the citizenship by naturalization procedure, applicable to those who are not related to Ireland in any way.

Do not hesitate to contact our immigration lawyers in Ireland for assistance. Our team can help foreign investors and their families in the process of relocating to this country. Of course, you can rely on our lawyers for other types of legal services, such as full legal representation during the purchase of a residential real estate property.