Just one rich foreigner has been awarded a residency permit in the Netherlands as part of a Dutch government scheme to encourage wealthy people to invest here, the Telegraaf said at the weekend.

In total, 10 people have applied to join the scheme but all but one are either still being processed or have been rejected, the paper said. Nine of the applications were made this year, the paper said, quoting figures from the justice ministry.

The rules were relaxed in June in an effort to make the scheme more attractive after it failed to generate interest among non-EU nationals.

When the ruling was announced in October 2013, the then junior justice minister Fred Teeven said he expected some 300 people would agree to invest €1.25m in the Netherlands in return for a one-year residency permit.