Foreigners who are prepared to invest €1.25m in Dutch companies will get a three-year residency permit in return, the justice ministry has agreed.

Junior minister Klaas Dijkhoff hopes the move will encourage more wealthy foreigners to invest in the Netherlands. Only one person took advantage of the previous scheme, which included just one year’s residency, a ministry spokesman told the Parool.

‘The current scheme created uncertainty in investors about whether they would be able to stay or not. We want to remove that doubt,’ the spokesman said.

Crime

In addition, foreign investors will no longer have to provide an accountant’s statement guaranteeing their money is not the proceeds of crime.

That proved to be more of a hurdle than a way of preventing fraud, the spokesman said. ‘Our financial intelligence unit will continue checking if potential investors have been involved in suspicious transactions here or in their country of origin,’ he said.

The €1.25m must be invested in creating jobs, innovation or in bringing other advantages to the Dutch economy. This means an expensive property purchase alone is not enough, the ministry statement said.