What is a QIAIF? — Qualifying Investor Alternative Investment Fund (Ireland)
A QIAIF is Ireland's flagship fund for professional and institutional money: an AIF authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland under its AIF Rulebook, restricted to qualifying investors with a minimum subscription of €100,000, and free of most product-level investment restrictions in exchange. Its signature feature is speed for a regulated product: the 24-hour fast-track — file by 5pm with the AIFM's and depositary's certifications, authorised the next business day.
A "qualifying investor" is a MiFID professional client, an investor appraised as having relevant expertise, or a self-certified informed investor; the €100,000 floor applies alongside. The QIAIF is the regulatory wrapper, not the legal form — it can be an ICAV, an investment company, a unit trust or an investment limited partnership. The full AIFMD stack is mandatory: authorised AIFM, Irish depositary, Irish administrator, auditor — and in return the fund carries the full AIFMD passport to professional investors across the EU/EEA.
The rulebook was re-based on 5 May 2026, when the revised AIF Rulebook applied alongside Ireland's AIFMD II transposition (S.I. 181/2026): the legacy loan-origination chapter was removed in favour of the EU-wide AIFMD II regime, and the ban on QIAIFs giving third-party guarantees went with it.
The practical gotcha: the 24-hour clock only starts when everything else is finished — the AIFM, depositary and directors must already be approved, and the certifications carry the regulatory weight. Budget for the pre-filing work, not the filing.
Where this appears on FundRegTracker
- Where to domicile a private fund — the ILP-as-QIAIF column
- Loan-originating funds: Ireland vs Luxembourg
- AIFMD II implementation tracker — the May 2026 Rulebook revision