FAQ: Working in Malta

In order for a third-country national (TCN) to work in Malta, he/she needs to have an employment license which is only granted if certain criteria are satisfied. One would need to assess the basis on which you would like to present your residency application. For you to apply you have to be employed, self-employed or a shareholder/Ultimate Beneficial Owner of a Malta resident company. For each and every one of these options, there are different documents and application forms that would need to be presented to the relevant authorities. To set the ball rolling and get a more tailor-made reply to your question, kindly email Liana Falzon, ACT’s partner in charge of residency and citizenship on lfalzon@act.com.mt.

If you are an EU/EEA/Swiss national, your residence card will be valid for 5 years (renewable). If you are a non-EU/EEA/Swiss national, your single work permit, which is a card comprising of your work permit and your residence permit, is valid for 1 year (renewable).

As a prospective employer, you would need to provide proof as to your efforts to fill in the post with Maltese/EU nationals, prior to approaching a TCN. This would have to be done as follows:

Vacancy adverts – For every application, you would be required to:

1. Advertise the job with Jobsplus; and
2. Advertise the job, at least twice, in the appropriate local media; or
3. Advertise the job through a Private Recruitment Agency.

There are vacancies that may be exempted from the labor market test and from the vacancy requirements mentioned above.

For more detailed and tailor-made replies about this, kindly email Liana Falzon, ACT’s partner in charge of residency and citizenship on lfalzon@act.com.mt.