Ireland · Passive income
Stamp 0 — persons of independent means
Open
Last verified July 2026
Open, but discretionary. It is granted for one year at a time, and it is deliberately unattractive. Ireland has never wanted a retirement migration industry.
Stamp 0 is the only realistic non-EU route into Irish residence for a wealthy retiree since the IIP closed, and it pairs with the non-dom remittance basis. But it is a thin permission. It is renewed yearly at official discretion, with no work rights, no state services, and no citizenship at the end of it.
The facts
- Minimum
- €50k
- Total landed cost
- No investment is required. But you must show EUR 50,000 of annual income per person, or EUR 100,000 for a couple, not necessarily split evenly. You also need access to a lump sum for major unforeseen costs such as a property purchase or medical emergency, plus private medical insurance.
- Route type
- Income requirement
- Timeline
- 4–8 months (Applications are typically processed in 4–6 months by Immigration Service Delivery.)
- Physical presence
- You are expected to be genuinely resident. The permission is renewed annually.
- Family
- Spouse or partner (combined EUR 100,000 income)Dependent children, in practice, though this is discretionary
- Permanent residency
- Not a normal path. Stamp 0 is expressly a low-level, temporary permission and does not lead to long-term residency in the ordinary way.
- Citizenship
- Effectively none. See watch-outs.
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- non-EEA nationalannual income of at least EUR 50,000 per person (EUR 100,000 per couple)access to a lump sum for unforeseen major expensesprivate medical insuranceno employment or business activity in Irelandverified statement of accounts certified by an Irish accountancy firm
What can go wrong
- Stamp 0 residence generally does not count toward naturalisation. Years spent on it will very likely buy you nothing toward Irish citizenship. Verify with Immigration Service Delivery before treating this as a passport strategy. This is the route's defining limitation.
- The permission is discretionary and renewed annually. There is no entitlement to it, and no security of tenure for a family relocating children into Irish schools.
- Holders cannot work, cannot run a business, and cannot draw state benefits or publicly funded services. Private medical insurance covering emergencies and hospital stays is mandatory.
- The financial evidence bar is unusually procedural. Accounts must be presented in tabular form, converted to euro, and certified by an Irish-based accountancy firm.
- The EUR 50,000 threshold is income, not capital. A large balance sheet that produces little income does not qualify on its face.