Residence & Citizenship

Malta

Malta offers the climate, the relaxed lifestyle and rich history to make living in Malta a real pleasure. There are several attractive residence programmes to tempt you even more, to move to this sunny isle.

Malta detail

Malta Programmes

Please click into any of the programme(s) below to view the benefits of each, the financial obligations and other criteria that might apply.

Dixcart Management Malta Limited Licence Number: AKM-DIXC-24

Programmes – Benefits & Criteria

Malta

The Malta Citizenship by Naturalisation for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment

Malta Start-up Programme

Malta Permanent Residence Programme

Malta Global Residence Programme

Malta Residence Programme

The Malta Retirement Programme

Malta Key Employee Initiative

Malta Specialist Employee Initiative (SEI)

The Malta Highly Qualified Persons Programme

Malta: The Qualifying Employment in Innovation & Creativity Scheme

The Malta Digital Nomad Residence Permit

  • Benefits
  • Financial/Other Obligations
  • Additional Criteria

Malta Start-up Programme

Available to third country nationals, excluding EU, EEA and Swiss nationals.

The programme allows for Founders and Co-Founders to apply for a 3-year residency permit, which can include their immediate family.

In addition to this the company may apply for a total of 4 additional permits, for you to 3 years, for Key Core Employees and their immediate family.

The Founders/Co-Founders of the Start-up may renew their residence for an additional 5 years after the initial 3 years, and Key Employees may renew their residence for another 3 years.

Founders/Co-Founders may apply for permanent residency after residing in Malta for 5 years.

Lucrative non-dilutive support measures can be accessed for IT and Fintech Businesses or a support Package for Research and Development Projects.

The start-up Residence Programme is an attractive entry point into a well-connected and versatile economy.

Certain employees may qualify for a personal income tax rate of 15%. Income tax is set at a flat rate of 15% for qualifying individuals

Dixcart Management Malta Limited Licence Number: AKM-DIXC-24

Malta Start-up Programme

The Maltese company must operate in the innovative or tech start-up space. A Business Plan is to be submitted to Malta Enterprise to review and approve before the residence visa can be approved.

In the case where the Maltese Company requires start-up support or funding, the residence permit will only be approved once funding has been approved.

The main requirements are: 

  • A tangible investment of €25,000 or a paid-up share capital of a minimum €25,000, and in the case of where there is more than 4 co-founders an additional €10,000 needs to be placed per additional co-founder.
  • Each person included in the application must have recognised health insurance in place.
  • The Founder, or Co-Founders must be in possession of sufficient financial resources, evidence by a recent bank statement to demonstrate they can support themselves and their dependents, if applicable.
  • Key Core Employees must have specialised skills and must not earn less than €30,000.

Malta Start-up Programme

All entities involved in the Shareholder Structure must not have been registered  globally  for more than seven years, prior to the application, in order to qualify for this programme.

It is expected that the successful applicants will reside in Malta and make Malta their permanent residence and therefore there is a minimum stay requirement of 183 days per year.

Applicants must not have a criminal record or pending criminal charges and must not pose any potential threat to the national security, public policy, public health, or public interest, in Malta.

Must not have previously been rejected for residence status or citizenship in Malta or abroad.

Available to third country nationals, excluding EU, EEA and Swiss are eligible.

Key Core Employee visas may only be applied for if one or more of the Founders have applied for a visa.

Download Full List of Programmes – Benefits & Criteria (PDF)


Living in Malta

Located in the Mediterranean, just south of Sicily, Malta offers all of the advantages of being a full member of the EU and English is one of its two official languages.

Malta’s economy has enjoyed large growth since joining the EU and the forward-thinking Government actively encourages new business sectors and technologies.

To make life even more enjoyable Malta offers tax benefits to expatriates and the attractive ‘remittance basis’ of taxation. To find out more about these advantages as well as the technical detail, please see the Malta programmes below or contact us and we can help answer the questions that are really important to you.

Tax Advantages when Living in Malta

Malta non-domiciled individuals living in Malta can benefit from the remittance basis of taxation. This means that they are taxed on Malta source income and certain gains arising in Malta but are not taxed on non-Malta source income not remitted to Malta. In addition, they are not taxed on capital gains, even if this income is remitted to Malta.

Depending on specific circumstances, certain Malta non-domiciled individuals will need to pay a capped annual tax of €5,000.

Malt does not impose inheritance tax, gift tax or wealth taxes.

Tax Advantages Available to Companies in Malta

Income, other than dividends and capital gains is subject to tax at Malta’s normal rate of 35%.

However, on payment of a dividend, a tax refund of between 6/7ths and 5/7ths of the tax paid by a Malta company is payable to the shareholder. This results in a net Malta tax rate of between 5% and 10%.

Where such income has benefited from double tax relief or the Malta flat rate tax credit, a 2/3rds refund applies.

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