Bartra Hong Kong office to meet demand for Irish visas
Office offers projects to investors under Irish immigrant scheme
A UNIT of Richard Barrett’s Bartra Capital has established an office in Hong Kong to deal with an increase in the number of enquiries from wealthy residents there seeking to avail of residency rights in Ireland under the Government’s Immigrant Investor Programme.
The Immigrant Investor Programme was established in 2012 during the financial crisis and is administered by the Department of Justice.
It’s widely used to secure investments from groups of foreigners for single projects such as housing, primary care centres and nursing homes.
Bartra Capital has developed a number of nursing homes here.
James Hartshorn, the chief executive and co-founder of Bartra Wealth Advisors, said that Ireland has become an “emerging emigration destination” for residents of Hong Kong.
Since last year, the company has been fielding an increased number of enquiries from Hong Kong residents, prompting it to set up an office there.
Hong Kong was the scene of violent clashes between protestors and police last year, as people there railed against plans to permit extradition to mainland China. The protests became a wider movement to secure full democracy there.
One Hong Kong businessman, Ivan Ko, has been courting the Government here with plans to build a new city in Ireland that would be home to 50,000 people from China’s so-called special administrative region.
The Immigrant Investor Programme enables foreigners from outside the European Economic Area to secure residency in Ireland for an initial period of two years.
The residency can be extended up to 10 years if certain criteria are met, and successful applicants and their families don’t have to actually live in Ireland, but must visit once a year.
To qualify, the applicants must apply to invest via the programme in one of four categories.
One option is to invest at least €1m across any number of Irish companies for a minimum of three years. The businesses can be a startup established by the investor, or an existing business registered in Ireland. The investment must support the creation or maintenance of employment.
Alternatively, investors can opt to make a minimum investment of €1m in an approved investment fund; invest a minimum of €2m across real estate investment trusts listed on the Irish stock exchange; or provide a minimum philanthropic endowment of €500,000 to be used in a project to benefit the public in the arts, sport, health, cultural or educational fields.
Close to 2,000 applications have been made under the scheme since it was introduced.
“Bartra offers qualifying investments in nursing homes and social housing,” notes Bartra Wealth’s website.
“Both of these assets provide very safe investments, as they both derive income from the Irish State,” it adds.
Richard Barrett was part of Treasury Holdings, the boomtime property development company that he co-owned with Johnny Ronan.
After the financial crash, Mr Barrett focused his business development on China, spending a significant amount of time in Shanghai.