Malta Permanent Residence Programme

Published in

Citizenship by Investment Programmes Index

3 min readJun 17, 2019

The Malta Golden Visa Program

2015 saw the publication of the Malta Residence & Visa Program Regulations, effectively the most competitive Golden Visa Program in Europe on the basis of its entry level as low as €140,000 with the option of buying property in Malta.

Malta’s Golden Visa Programme

Malta Residence Programme

Malta Golden Visa vs Malta Global Residency Program

2013 saw the issue of the Global Residence Program allows permanent residency to individuals and families who buy or rent property in Malta, granting special tax status in the form of a flat tax rate of 15% on remitted income, subject to a €15,000 annual minimum tax.

The 2015 Malta Golden Visa does not supercede the successful 2013 Malta Global Residency Program which is intended mainly for tax residency and imposes a minimum annual tax obligation of €15,000. The Malta Golden Visa does not impose any minimum tax obligation at all and only requires a 5 year investment in non-interest bearing Malta Government Bonds at €250,000, a one-time contribution of €30,000 and the purchase or rental of property in Malta at a minimum of:

€10,000 in annual rent if the property is situated in the South of Malta or in Gozo; or €12,000 if situated anywhere else in Malta, OR
€320,000 if property is purchased.

Risk-free Golden Visa Investment

All investments are required only on receiving approval of the Malta Golden Visa application, which must be filed via an authorised Malta Residency Agent. Of the contribution of €30,000 due on approval, only €5,500 is payable on application.

The Malta Golden Visa program is build on the model of the successful Malta Citizenship by Investment programme (Individual Investor Programme) which offers citizenship within the European island of Malta after 1 year of sustained connections with Malta, concurrently with the maximum of 4 months’ processing time.

About the Author

Malta Immigration Lawyer Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti is one of the founding partners of Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates. With Dr Priscilla Mifsud Parker, Dr Chetcuti heads the firm’s Private Client practice, specialising in private client tax planning, wealth structuring and citizenship and residency planning.

Dr Chetcuti is a key advisor on the Malta Citizenship by Investment, the Cyprus Citizenship by Investment, the Malta Global Residence Programme, the Malta Residency by Investment Programme and buying property in Malta and, holding licence IIP 001, he was the first to be licensed by the Identity Malta Agency and to directly file citizenship by investment applications under the Malta Individual Investor Programme.

Within his tax planning and wealth structuring function, he specialises in the use of Malta holding companies and Malta’s Participation Exemption, Malta royalty companies, Malta trusts and Malta foundations and Malta Professional Investor Funds.