On 12th January 2021 Honourable Alex Muscat, Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Communities, together with Mr Charles Mizzi, CEO of Malta Residency and Visa Programme Agency (MRVA), presented a proposal to introduce changes to the Malta Residency and Visa Programme (MRVP).
It is being proposed that the new programme will be renamed to Malta Permanent Residence Programme.
The features of the new Permanent Residence Programme are:
- Removal of obligation to invest and hold Malta government bonds;
- Introduction of mandatory donation of €2,000 to an approved NGO;
- Increase in the amount of compulsory government contribution from €30,000
- To €68,000 in case the applicant chooses to purchase residential property or
- To €98,000 when the applicant opts to rent qualifying property;
- Additional fees of €7,500 for a spouse and €5,000 for an adult dependent child will be applicable in cases where the main applicant was approved already;
- Increase in fees from €5,000 to €7,500 for parents/grandparents and spouses of approved dependants upon their addition to the programme;
- Increase in thresholds of minimum property purchase cost to €300,000 (South of Malta or island of Gozo) and €350,000 for the rest of Malta.
- Rental minimum to remain unchanged €10,000 and €12,000 respectively;
- Elimination of the option to submit application on the basis of annual income of €100,000 or more;
- The main applicant must demonstrate possession of €500,000 of capital assets, €150,000 of which shall be financial assets;
- Exclusion of requirement to hold EU wide health insurance, instead an all-risks Malta policy will be required;
- In case of a departure of the main applicant a new family member may be appointed to continue with application process;
- Agents accredited with the Community Malta Agency will be authorised to represent applicants.
Amongst others the junior minister pledged a fast and efficient application process, the government will also look into possibilities to create a path between permanent residency and Maltese citizenship. The proposed changes to MRVP will be put up for discussion at the Parliament of Malta in coming weeks.
