Hungary’s government has unveiled plans to launch a new “Golden Visa” scheme that has in the past led to an influx of Russian investors to the country and suspicions that it has facilitated the infiltration of spies into the NATO member state, Reuters and Bloomberg report.

The plans were included in a draft law submitted to parliament by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with a statement on the motivation of the law, noting that its purpose is to regulate immigration from third countries to Hungary.

The bill introduces a new category of “investor guest” visas, which will be issued to people coming to Hungary with projects that the Hungarian government classifies as “investments of strategic importance.”

According to the bill, obtaining this visa will be a condition for applying for a residence permit, which will allow those who apply for it to stay in Hungary for 10 years, a period that can then be extended for another 10 years.

The new program comes after Budapest scrapped its previous “golden visa” scheme in 2017 after a Syrian man under US sanctions was granted residency in Hungary.

The previous program, launched in 2013, provided that foreigners who buy up to 300,000 euros worth of Hungarian bonds could get a residence permit.

What does the new “golden visa” scheme, prepared by the Hungarian government, entail

Bloomberg reports that the previous program led to a sharp increase in immigration from China and Russia, and that its cancellation came amid allegations of corruption and negligence in vetting applicants, raising fears of spies infiltrating the European Union and NATO member states.

In fact, the fact that Hungarian authorities will not scrutinize who they issue passports to is also cited by the US government in August of this year in its decision to limit the visas it grants to Hungarian citizens under the Visa Waiver Program.

According to a new draft law submitted by the Hungarian government to the parliament in Budapest on Thursday, the status of “project of strategic importance” can also be obtained by investors who buy shares in a real estate or real estate fund worth 250,000 euros in Hungary. real estate worth at least 500,000 euros.

The status, which paves the way for foreigners to obtain a “guest investor” visa, will also be available to foreigners who donate one million euros to public interest asset management funds that have attracted the attention of the European Commission for a conflict of interest with the Government.

One of the most popular Russian news sites, Lenta, and other Russian mass media immediately announced the Hungarian government’s intention to resume issuing “golden visas.”