Since Dublin abruptly announced the end of its decade-old golden visa programme on February 14 , Janine Miu has been swamped with inquiries from wealthy Hongkongers and mainland Chinese keen to gain Irish residency by investment before the door closes. “I’ve received dozens of inquiries within two weeks,” said Miu, founder of UK Immigration Specialist, a consultancy. “They no longer ask about their eligibility for the programme, but very specific questions about the projects, to help them decide which ones to invest in.” A family of four, she said, had been mulling the move for a year. When they heard about the termination of the residency programme, the parents leapt into action. The Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), commonly known as the “cash-for-visa” or “golden visa” scheme, was implemented in 2012 to help Ireland get out of the financial crisis. After attracting almost €1.252 billion (US$1.33 billion) in investment, the government said “it is now timely” to end it, prompting wealthy investors to act fast. While the programme is ending for new developments, existing projects approved by the Irish government can continue to source new investors as required to complete their funding. Miu said the quota is filling up quickly. A project that started seeking 39 investors saw nine spots snatched within a week. “I expect all spots for the existing projects will be filled this month,” she said, adding that investors may only have a two-week window at most to make up their minds. Bartra Wealth Advisor also received “more than 100 inquiries the next morning” after the news of the program’s termination, said Richie Lenehan, the firm’s sales associate. Ireland closing ‘golden visa’ path favoured by wealthy Chinese “They all had similar questions about whether or not they could still invest in IIP projects and be eligible for receiving the visa or permanent-residency approvals to get a final chance to come to Ireland,” he said. The program’s popularity among wealthy Chinese has spiked in recent years. In 2021, there were 243 applications from Chinese nationals alone and, which more than tripled to 785 in 2022. To date, 94 per cent of the 1,613 accepted applications came from Chinese nationals. There are still 1,500 cases under review. The interest in hopping on the last train is high, but it may not be a smooth ride. “Currently, lawsuits arising out of IIP investments are not very common but are starting to emerge more frequently,” said Cian Moriarty, senior associate at Irish law firm Philip Lee. “The reason for a delay in cases is likely to be partly due to the IIP becoming far more popular in recent years and the fact that enterprise investments must stay in place for a number of years,” he said. “As such, investors will only begin to seek the return of their investment after the investment period has expired.” As the only English-speaking member country of the EU – and with 12.2 per cent GDP growth last year – Ireland has been a popular destination for wealthy Chinese looking to emigrate. Ireland doesn’t want to shut door to China, says foreign minister The programme offered four “cash for visa” options: a charitable donation of at least €400,000, investing €1 million in an Irish enterprise or an investment fund, or investing €2 million into an Irish Real Estate Investment Trust. One of the eligible programmes involves investment in funds or enterprises that build social housing and nursing homes. Another is for investment in hotels. Those who have invested in an Ireland-based enterprise are likely to expect that their investment will be returned to them after the investment period, typically three to five years, together with any profit, said Moriarty. Disputes can arise if the enterprise cannot meet its obligations under its contract with the investor, he said. “If an investor has made an application with the intention of being part of a group of investors and, for whatever reason, the project does not achieve its investment targets and complete the group, this may have consequences, which could affect the application and the applicant’s immigration permission,” Moriarty said. Sean Wang, a 45-year-old businessman from Nanjing, a city in China’s affluent Jiangsu province, arrived in Dublin as an immigrant investor in 2019. He thought he would get his €1 million investment plus interest back after four years as promised by the agency that helped him prepare for the move. More Hongkongers eligible for Canada’s special work permit paving way for residency But it never happened. No trace of the money either. “There’s no problem with the intention of this programme, but there’s fraud in the process,” said Wang, who is among a group of 50 wealthy Chinese who invested in a hotel project. “I haven’t heard of any victims getting their principal back.” He is now fighting a legal battle in a foreign land, a life quite different from what he anticipated. Lawsuits against “promoters who took commissions” can happen, said David Lesperance, managing partner of law firm Lesperance & Associates. “This is the group who may have already taken fees from the client and commissions from the funds that have been sold, and the application has not yet been filed or finalised,” he said. “Rightly speaking, the clients will ask for return of fees and the funds will ask for return of commission.” Hong Kong immigration to Vancouver reversing years of decline He added that often these promoters or consultants are “fly by night” operations. “By the time someone tries to sue them, they have disappeared,” he said. There were “bad players” in the market, said Gerard McGrath, founding partner of law firm McGrath McGrane. His law firm has a case in the Irish courts against Huawen Foundation, which is the subject of at least three other cases, he said. “Those are cases where the investors have not been able to recover their investments,” said McGrath. “Any lawsuits will relate to poor investments or dishonesty on the part of promoters.” To avoid bad players, Miu of UK Immigration Specialist said investors who look for real estate projects need to look out for the developer’s history, business portfolio and track record of repayment. “Avoid developers that were only set up a few years after the programme was put in place and only have projects related to the IIP,” she said. “Those can be risky. There are developers with a history of 40 years and a diversified portfolio.”