Investment Immigration Malta
Malta is a truly attractive private residence location. The island nation enjoys a stable political climate and a strategic location, with excellent air connections. The Malta Residence and Visa Program (MRVP) offers non-Maltese people the opportunity to purchase an EU residence card which offers visa-free travel within the Schengen area of Europe.
The Malta Citizenship Investment Plan, known as the Malta Individual Investor Program (MIIP), targets at individuals with ultra-high net worth. Individual investors must make a minimum contribution of €650,000 to the Government’s national development fund, invest €150,000 in government-approved financial instruments and commit to a Malta residence either for rent or purchase for a minimum of 5 years. The value of the property must be a minimum of €350,000 for purchased real estate. For renting this is a €16,000 pa commitment. Growing member of the family will also donate a total of €25,000 annually to the construction fund. The benefits after having resided for one year are citizenship and a second Maltese passport. In turn, this gives European citizenship and the ability to live, work and study anywhere in the European Union.
Malta offers two golden visa programmes, one for citizenship (MIIP) and one for permanent residency (MIRP), through investment. This program grants indefinite residency rights to international investors investing at least € 250,000 in Maltese government bonds or equities over a five-year period. Moreover the investor must make a contribution of €30,000 to the State Fund of Malta and buy or rent a residence on the island. Judicial and handling costs are 40,000 euros. The program provides a stable, low-risk investment route for an EU Schengen country residency visa.
A Certificate of Naturalization will grant successful candidates citizenship in Malta, which may also be extended to include their families. They have the right of establishment in all 28 EU countries and Switzerland once a candidate is awarded Malta citizenship, which includes EU citizenship. They also have the ability to set up business in Malta, and can get a Malta passport enabling them to enjoy visa-free travel to more than 160 countries across the world including the United States.
UPDATE: As of January 2020, over 1500 Malta passport applications have been received by the Individual Investor Program on behalf of investors from more than 40 different countries. Currently the program is limited to 1800 applications, so if you are interested we encourage you to act quickly as the limit could be reached within a few months!
Minimum requirements:
- An investment in government bonds of EUR 250,000 to be retained for a minimum period of five years
- A non-refundable government contribution of EUR 30,000 (EUR 5,500 of which is an advance government administrative fee)
- A property purchase of EUR 320,000 (EUR 270,000 in South Malta or Gozo), or a property lease of EUR 12,000 per annum (EUR 10,000 in South Malta or Gozo)
Benefits of the MRVP:
- EU residence card granting visa-free travel across Europe’s Schengen Area
- Right to reside indefinitely in Malta
- Five years’ permanent residence, renewable indefinitely
- Investment required only for first five years
- No residence requirement
- Family members included
Procedures and time frame:
Requirements and procedures for applying for MRVP are sensible and straightforward. The application is submitted with a non-refundable deposit of the contribution amount in the sum of EUR 5,500 to the IIP Agency, the government agency responsible for the applications. After rigorous due diligence tests, qualified candidates will be asked to complete the qualifying investments and are then asked to issued a residence permit. The IIP Agency will issue a Maltese residence certificate to successful applicants, which acts as a license. For the first five years of its issue the certificate will be monitored annually, and every five years thereafter.
