Relocating to Malta on a Digital nomad visa — (Planning, departure, and Arrival)
You think that Applying is where the work lies till you start waiting to hear from the embassy, and you realize that you’re losing weight just by waiting.
Hey there,
Thanks for the congratulatory messages and for reading and giving feedback on my previous article — Relocating to Malta on a Digital Nomad Visa from Nigeria.
This piece is a continuation of the series. In this article, I highlight the journey from the day we sent over our passports to Malta via UPS. Yes, My passport crossed to Malta before me; I am not pissed, I promise.
After sending our passports, we used the tracking number to monitor the progress. It arrived in Malta in about five days. They were done in about 2–3 weeks and returned our passports. It came to Nigeria in 4 days but got stuck. At first, I thought it was an immigration issue because Nigeria takes its time for everything. But I started panicking when it got to 2 weeks and close to my trip to Kenya for Flutter Forward.
We contacted UPS, Residency Malta, and everyone we could get via email and Twitter. I just cried and crawled into my skin at a point, but Dave kept pushing. Eventually, they told us that a ‘government agency’ was holding it. We finally got to know that the ‘government agency’ was DSS.
Ah! We contacted DSS using the number we got from UPS, and DSS said they kept it to ensure it wasn’t a case of human trafficking. “But you could’ve called now, and I’ll rectify this issue.” Anyways, after a lot of back and forth, it got sorted.
Our passports left Lagos, and received them three days later; the same day, I had a flight to Nairobi. I missed the Nairobi trip, but I am here. It was depressing for me, but I can’t complain.
When the rider called and said, he needed clarification about the location, Ah! I told him to wait wherever he was comfortable and that I would meet him there. Immediately he called the second time; we both just ran out of the house and went to wait for him.
We finally got it and flung into booking our flights.
Booking your flights — Because we already canceled our flight 2 times, we decided to wait until we got the passport before we booked again.
There are no direct flights from Nigeria to Malta. So, we had two options — take KLM and stop in the Netherlands or Turkish Airlines and stop in Istanbul. There are other options, but I needed just one stop, so I didn’t look at any other options for the dates we wanted.
We monitored flights using Google flight and Hopper. Immediately after we got our passports, I cleared my cached memory and browser history and went straight to Turkish Airlines to book the trip.
It costs $1,160 per person for a one-way trip. Of course, my card did not work. Luckily, our friends, Bosun and Mercy helped us with their card details. We paid and started counting the days. We were excited to leave immediately, but our pockets didn’t match the excitement. We booked a flight that was two weeks and three days away.
Three days into our trip, we left Awka for Lagos. The night before, we went to my family’s for dinner and to pack our foodstuff. The following day, we left for Lagos.
On arriving at Lagos airport — Our flight was for 9:55 pm, but we left the hotel by 4:30 pm and arrived in about 20 mins. It was a Saturday, and we stayed in a hotel in Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja.
A man with a luggage trolley came and carried our boxes. On getting to the entrance of the airport, he said 3k. “It’s not only 3k; I paid 1k and moved on.
Also, have some cash because the Lagos airport tales are super right. They’ll intentionally ask you to wait to delay you. So, have some change up to 2/5k. Or show up early, and you might slip their fangs. We were done with check-in in about 30mins and went to the boarding area to grab something to eat and wait. At about 9:35 pm, we went to the boarding gates, and after the checks, we were on the plane.
About 45mins later, we were in the skies off to Istanbul airport.
Book accommodation/check with your accommodation: We had to re-book our accommodation because we canceled earlier when our passport didn’t arrive. So, we got accommodation for a week at an Airbnb. However, if your initial reservation is still on, then you’re good.
Intermission: Give up to 3 hours of layover between flights when booking your flight. Ours was 1 hour, 30mins, and because our flights left Lagos an hour later, we missed our connecting flight and had to wait at the airport from 7:40am-ish to 6 pm.
They gave us food coupons and said we could go to the nap zone. So, we grabbed burgers at Burger King and went to chill at an empty boarding space.
Unnecessary detail: We wanted to ‘buga’(Flex), and we went to the hotel within the airport(Yotel) to rest for 6 hours, and they said it cost 145 euros. Ah! Money for feeding for one week? We dragged our bags, found a cozy place, subscribed to the unlimited internet, and chilled. The internet costs 9 euros per person, and we paid with a WEMA DOM(Domiciliary) card.
Withdraw and have some cash: Everything was going fine until I wanted to drink water, and I couldn’t use my card (I only found out today that it wasn’t activated — BTW, today is Tuesday, the 21st). So, if you have a DOM card, activate it for international transactions and withdraw some cash in euros to be safe.
By some, I mean 500 euros or more because We had to rely on the $200 we had. We changed $100 for euros at the airport, which was ridiculous because we got 68 euros but had no options. We bought water, salad and a burger for lunch. On arriving in Malta, we used the remaining to pay for our cab and had 12 euros that got us to bread the following day until we figured out what to do with the other $100 bill.
So, have some cash on you plus a Dollar/Euro card.
Make arrangements with your Airbnb/House host for a pickup: You will be picked up and dropped off at your destination. We arrived at the airport, and using the airport wifi, we booked an Uber. He was kind, and all dropped us at the ‘supposed’ address, and it was when he left that we realized that we were at the wrong place.
We had no internet, and it was cold. We finally found a stranger who was kind enough to connect us to his hotspot, helped us book an Uber, and waited until our ride arrived before he left. God bless you, Samuel.
The next Uber still didn’t drop us at the right place, and he left before we found where we were going to was a few blocks away, so we dragged our boxes to the apartment. It was a good thing that it had a lift, so we got in, and because I didn’t screenshot the “How to get in instructions,” we got to the 6th floor and found the 11th flat but were unsure how to get the keys. So, before you arrive in Malta, have a screenshot of the instructions for getting into the apartment, phone numbers you can call, and the address or picture of the house or street.
Luckily they were expecting us, so they heard some noise and opened the door for us. We dragged our boxes, connected to the wifi, and told our family and friends we had arrived. We managed to bathe and went to bed.
The following day, we woke up to a beautiful view, and even though we were super cold, we couldn’t help but step out and watch the sunrise. We decided to set up Revolut for payment, but then revolut required that we have a Maltese sim card. We went to buy a sim, which cost 10 euros each, and we had just 12 euros, and we still needed to eat. Ah! We left without buying and resorted to eating bread first before someone died.
I must also add that this bread is not for the weak.
I had a $100 note, so we went with our passport, found a western union office, and converted it to euros. We bought sim cards, pasta, chicken, and spices and went to cook first because it had been almost 48 hours without a cooked meal.
We set up our ‘Go’ sim cards, and they came with 10 euros worth of airtime. We set up our Revolut, changed our Wise addresses, and had our accounts running in a couple of hours. We successfully funded our Revolut but still couldn’t use cards. My Airbnb host helped me withdraw using her card, and I gave her a refund because I needed cash. God bless her.
And then, we went straight into actively looking for an apartment because our date for the biometrics appointment was set for Friday — we had four days to find a house we liked, pay, sign papers, and be ready for our 8:30 am appointment at Residency Malta.
Luckily, we found an apartment on the Facebook marketplace.
Finding an apartment and paying: You can find long let apartments in several places. You can find these apartments on:
- Facebook Marketplace
- Maltapark
- Quicklets
- Facebook groups. (Expats Malta, Malta rent flat, apartment direct from owner, Malta Apartments).
- Airbnb (For the rich).
On Facebook groups, you can find homes posted directly by the owner. People prefer to get it now from the owner because they don’t have to pay the commission, which is usually half the price of the apartment for the month. But most of the homes are posted by agents. So, play around with the filters and find something you like.
On Monday, David found one he liked and contacted the agent; we scheduled a viewing for the next day in Gozo. Malta is made of 3 islands — Malta, Comino, and Gozo.
The image below shows the three islands.
Our Airbnb was in St. Pauls Bay/Bugibba. We Asked around, found the closest bus stop, and joined a bus going to Cirkewwa. The bus trip costs us 2 euros each. Cirkewwa is where they have the ferry terminal that goes to Gozo. On Arrival, they told us we didn’t need to pay and that we only paid when we were coming from Gozo.
We hopped on, and it was a magnificent ferry. On arriving at Gozo terminal, we inputted the address of the apartment and took a cab because we needed to figure out how the buses moved then. The trip cost us 15 euros using the terminal Cabs. On our second visit, we used an Uber, which cost us 8 euros.
Tip: Once you need help figuring out where you’re going and need help figuring the buses out, take an Uber. It’ll save you time and stress. Don’t be scared to spend lots of money. It will only be your first few days; once you settle and move around a little bit, you’ll understand best how to move, and then you can plan and save more.
On getting to the apartment, we met the agent and landlord, and in 5 mins, you’d think that we knew ourselves from before.
It was a two-bedroom apartment, and the landlord lived downstairs with his family. The lovely space comes fully furnished with a smart TV, router, ACs, a washing machine, a dryer, a functional kitchen, a gas cylinder, a cooking unit, an oven, a fridge, cutlery, plates, mugs, and a refrigerator, everything we’d need. All we needed to do was bring our box of clothes.
We talked about the price and laughed. After a one-hour tour, we left with the agent to Victoria, the center of Gozo, where we’d find a gym.
The agent gave us a tour and left us. We ate some pastizzi, a snack Malta is known for, and we headed for the bus stop and returned to the ferry terminal. At the airport, we paid 4.75 euros per person to return to Malta.
We talked about it, and given that this deal felt “too good to be true” and nothing exciting came up in the next 24 hours, we told the agent that we’d take it. We came back to Gozo on Thursday and signed the papers.
To get an idea of the apartment price range, I’d suggest you look at the list I posted above and the pricing. It will give you an idea of what to expect.
Some factors affect the prices of properties, like seasons. The rent is expensive during summertime. So, if you’re coming to MALTA anytime between May and September, it might be a (little bit) pricey. However, winter is better. Sometimes you get lucky and find something great, so I can’t wait to have you here.
We packed up and moved with our things on Saturday, and it’s been beautiful since we moved here. It is the countryside, and I love the views.
In summary, our application took time because we had to pause at a point and because it fell during the holidays(Christmas and New Year). Everything should take at most three months from application to Arrival. This process was seamless, and the people at the nomad residency office were accommodating.
Thanks for reading another long episode. In the following articles, I’ll cover some FAQs and tips I can share. I’ll also share how to find the bus stops and get the Tallinja transport cards. I just started figuring things out myself, so I’ll share as I go.
I am super lazy to write and want to focus on work now. I am considering using videos. I’ll keep you all updated on what I decide to do.
If you have any questions, drop them as a comment or send a DM on Twitter at @iamCynthiaPeter. We also have Twitter spaces happening today, Wednesday, 22nd Feb. Please come with your questions.
I want to give a special shout-out to Mercy, Bosun, and Control for always coming through for us whenever we get stuck.
Thanks again for reading. Till I write to you again,
Obiagu.
