🇲🇹 Working and relocating to Malta

Start here — official, highest confidence

The four bodies that between them run almost everything on this page: Identità for permits and residence documents, Jobsplus for the labour-market/employer side, MTCA for tax, and MFHEA for qualification recognition.

• Identità — home pageidentita.gov.mt
• Expatriates Unit — main pageidentita.gov.mt
• Working & Residing in Malta — overviewidentita.gov.mt
• Jobsplus — home pagejobsplus.gov.mt
• Malta Tax and Customs Administration — home pagemtca.gov.mt
• Malta Further & Higher Education Authority — home pagemfhea.mt
• Residency Malta Agency — home pageresidencymalta.gov.mt
• gov.mt — Registering as a Jobseekergov.mt

Single Permit — the general employment-and-residence route

The Single Permit is the default combined work-and-residence authorisation for third-country nationals taking up employment in Malta for more than six months, issued under Subsidiary Legislation 217.17.

• Single Permit — overviewidentita.gov.mt
• Single Permit — who is eligibleidentita.gov.mt
• Single Permit — how to applyidentita.gov.mt
• Single Permit — documents requiredidentita.gov.mt
• Single Permit — processing periodidentita.gov.mt
• Single Permit — renewalidentita.gov.mt
• Single Permit — new-application checklist (PDF)identita.gov.mt — link did not resolve on 15 September 2026

Fast-track routes for highly qualified third-country nationals

Three parallel routes for skilled hires, each with its own salary threshold and eligibility test: KEI for managerial/highly technical roles, SEI as the broader alternative, and the EU Blue Card for higher professional qualifications.

• Employment permits for highly qualified individuals — overviewidentita.gov.mt

Key Employee Initiative (KEI)

• KEI — who is eligibleidentita.gov.mt

Specialist Employee Initiative (SEI)

• SEI — overviewidentita.gov.mt
• SEI — who is eligibleidentita.gov.mt
• SEI — application procedureidentita.gov.mt
• SEI — applications and checklistsidentita.gov.mt

EU Blue Card

• EU Blue Card — Malta overviewidentita.gov.mt
• EU Blue Card — new-application checklist (PDF)identita.gov.mt
• European Commission — EU Blue Card conditions in Maltahome-affairs.ec.europa.eu

Highly Qualified Persons Rules (tax)

A flat 15% tax rate on qualifying employment income for people filling a defined list of eligible senior roles in financial services, gaming, aviation, aerodrome operations, and assisted reproductive technology. The scheme is scheduled to terminate for new determinations after 31 December 2025/2030 windows named in the guidelines — check current dates before relying on it.

• MTCA — Tax Guidelines on Highly Qualified Persons Rules (incl. eligible-office list)mtca.gov.mt

Formerly administered as 'CFR' guidance; now published under the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA), the successor to the Commissioner for Revenue.

Nomad Residence Permit

A residence permit for remote workers employed or self-employed outside Malta who want to be based there, run by the Residency Malta Agency through a dedicated portal.

• Nomad Residence Permit — official portalnomad.residencymalta.gov.mt
• Nomad Residence Permit — brochurenomad.residencymalta.gov.mt
• Nomad Residence Permit — application checklistnomad.residencymalta.gov.mt
• Nomad Residence Permit — visas and residence permitsnomad.residencymalta.gov.mt
• Nomad Residence Permit — permit renewalsnomad.residencymalta.gov.mt
• Nomad Residence Permit — about the Agencynomad.residencymalta.gov.mt

EU/EEA/Swiss nationals — the lighter-touch route

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens don't need a work permit; they register residence directly with Identità once they've been in Malta over three months, and can access the jobs market without employer sponsorship.

• Expatriates Unit — EU nationals overviewidentita.gov.mt
• eResidence document — applicationidentita.gov.mt
• Registration Certificate and eResidence Documentidentita.gov.mt
• Permanent residence for EU nationalsidentita.gov.mt
• Expatriates Unit — online applications portalexpatriates.identita.gov.mt
• Jobsplus — hiring EU nationalsjobsplus.gov.mt

Employer obligations when hiring a third-country national

Before a TCN can be granted a permit, the employer must run a labour-market test — advertise the vacancy to the Malta/EU market first — and afterwards register the engagement through the Jobsplus portal; DIER handles standard work-condition compliance and posted-worker notifications.

• Jobsplus — employing non-EU nationals (TCNs)jobsplus.gov.mt
• Jobsplus — employer services overviewjobsplus.gov.mt
• Jobsplus — employer formsjobsplus.gov.mt
• Jobsplus — using the employer portaljobsplus.gov.mt

No public register of employers 'approved' or 'opted in' to hire third-country nationals is published by Jobsplus or Identità. Vetting happens per-application (vacancy advertising evidence, licence checks) rather than through a standing employer list — if you've seen a claim that such a public list exists, it isn't backed by an official source.

Qualification recognition

Foreign academic and vocational qualifications are benchmarked against the Malta Qualifications Framework by MQRIC, the recognition body inside MFHEA.

• MFHEA — Malta Qualifications Recognition Information Centre (MQRIC)mfhea.mt
• MFHEA — Malta Qualifications Databasemfhea.mt
• MFHEA — Malta Qualifications Frameworkmfhea.mt
• MFHEA — professional registrations indexmfhea.mt
• MFHEA — Recognition of a Qualification (guidance PDF)mfhea.mt

Professional regulator registration

Regulated professions need registration with their own statutory body before practising in Malta, on top of any MFHEA recognition of the underlying qualification.

• MFSA — Malta Financial Services Authority home pagemfsa.mt
• MFSA — authorisationsmfsa.mt
• MFSA — Financial Services Registermfsa.mt

Medicine

• Medical Council of Malta — registration forms and proceduresmedicalcouncil.gov.mt
• Medical Council of Malta — provisional registrationmedicalcouncil.gov.mt
• Medical Council of Malta — online registration portalmcmregistration.gov.mt

Nursing and midwifery

• Council for Nurses and Midwives of Malta — home pagenursesandmidwivescouncil.gov.mt
• Council for Nurses and Midwives — registration for non-EU qualifiednursesandmidwivescouncil.gov.mt
• Council for Nurses and Midwives — registration for EU qualifiednursesandmidwivescouncil.gov.mt

Architecture and civil engineering (Periti)

• Kamra tal-Periti — Register of Peritikamratalperiti.org
• Periti Warrant Board — official warrant siteperitiwarrant.gov.mt

Other engineering disciplines

• Chamber of Engineers Malta — the engineering professioncoe.org.mt

Jobsplus and government job portals

The official public employment service, plus its EU-facing counterpart under the EURES network.

• Jobsplus — vacancy searchjobsplus.gov.mt
• gov.mt — registering as a jobseekergov.mt
• EURES Malta — home pageeures.com.mt
• EURES Malta — jobseekerseures.com.mt
• EURES Malta — employerseures.com.mt
• Europass / Your Europe — working in Maltaeuropass.europa.eu

General job boards (private, not government)

Large commercial job boards active in the Malta market. Included for completeness only — not official sources, and not vetted for accuracy of any given listing.

• LinkedIn Jobs — Maltamt.linkedin.com
• Indeed Maltamt.indeed.com

Settling in — residence, tax, social security, healthcare, renting, driving

Once the permit side is sorted, these are the standing administrative steps almost everyone in Malta needs: a Social Security Number, tax registration, proof of healthcare entitlement, a registered tenancy if renting, and a Maltese driving licence if driving long-term.

• Social Security — registering for a Social Security Numbersocialsecurity.gov.mt
• Servizz.gov — Expatriates Taxpayer Registration Formservizz.gov.mt
• MTCA — about CFR online tax servicesmtca.gov.mt
• gov.mt — healthcare entitlementgov.mt
• Servizz.gov — European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)servizz.gov.mt
• Housing Authority — services (incl. lease registration)housingauthority.gov.mt
• Servizz.gov — registration of a Private Residential Lease Contractservizz.gov.mt
• Transport Malta — exchanging a foreign driving licencetransport.gov.mt
• Transport Malta — driving licence overviewtransport.gov.mt

Coming from one of these countries?

Your own government runs the register of licensed recruiters, the emigration clearance and the welfare fund that apply before you leave. Those pages are written from that side.