The Department of Jus-tice is drafting up new proposals that would grant greater numbers of immigrant entrepreneurs and investors permission to live and run businesses in Ireland, Metro Éireann has learned.
Answering a recent Dáil question by Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy on Government plans to bring in a new immigration scheme for entrepreneurship and investment, Minister of State Kathleen Lynch said the “draft proposals would have the effect of broadening the eligibility criteria for business persons and investors to reside in Ireland”.
She added: “Migrant entrepreneurship and investment remain resources that have been insufficiently tapped into in the past, and we need to create what might be called a more ‘diversified portfolio’ within the immigration system aimed at attracting such persons to live, work and invest in Ireland.”
The Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, Older People, Equality & Mental Health said the Government plans to make the scheme very “attractive” and also make sure that “necessary immigration controls remain in place”.
At present, every non-EEA national applying for business permission in Ireland, except in certain exceptional cases, must create employment for two nationals from the European Economic Area as well as “show personal investment of €300,000 or more”.
One of the many other requirements, listed on a Justice website, is that “the proposed business must be a viable trading concern and provide the applicant with sufficient income to maintain and accommodate themselves and any dependants without resorting to social assistance or paid employment for which a work permit would be required.”
Minister Lynch said the requirements were “insufficiently flexible in a number of areas, including the financial investment threshold and the employment targets”, adding that the system does not take “innovation start-up enterprises which will often initially employ only the principals” into consideration.
She also said the Irish immigration system does not favour “high net worth individuals who would be willing to make a significant investment in the country in return for being allowed to reside here”.
The minister said Ireland needed to introduce the new system if it was “to be competitive” and successful internationally.
“Even a small number of additional investments and enterprises attracted to Ireland could have a significant impact,” she added.
