Moving to Malta

An English-speaking EU member the size of a city, with the tax rules that come with it.

Malta is the smallest member state of the European Union and the only one where English is an official language alongside the national one. Legislation, court judgments, government forms, schooling and most workplace communication are all available in English, which removes the single largest practical obstacle that moving to continental Europe normally involves.

The economy is narrow and deliberately built around a handful of licensed sectors: online gaming, financial services, aviation services and tourism. That concentration is why a country of well under a million people employs a very large foreign workforce, and why immigration policy is organised around employers rather than around points scores.

Two things have changed and older guides frequently get them wrong. The investor citizenship scheme that allowed a Maltese passport to be obtained through payments and property was ruled contrary to EU law by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2025, so any guide describing a purchasable Maltese passport is out of date. Residence by investment continues under a separate programme, and it is residence, not nationality. The second change is cumulative rather than legal: property prices and rents have risen much faster than local salaries, and housing is now the main reason people leave.

Region	Southern Europe
Capital	Valletta
Population	around 570,000
Foreign-born residents	roughly a quarter of residents
Official language(s)	Maltese, English
Currency	Euro (EUR)

Why people move to Malta

• English is an official language, so forms, contracts, schools and hospitals all operate in it.
• A single permit combines the right to work and the right to reside, handled largely by the employer.
• Fast-track routes exist for senior and specialist roles, with processing measured in weeks rather than months.
• Non-domiciled residents are commonly taxed on a remittance basis, so foreign income left abroad is generally outside the Maltese net.
• The Nomad Residence Permit was among the first schemes of its kind in the European Union and remains open to remote workers.
• Public healthcare is well regarded and free at the point of use for those insured through employment or reciprocal arrangements.

What to know before you commit

• Citizenship by investment is over: the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled the scheme unlawful in 2025 and no comparable replacement has been published.
• Property prices and rents are extremely high relative to Maltese salaries, and this gap has widened every year for roughly a decade.
• Ordinary naturalisation requires a long period of residence and is granted with considerable ministerial discretion, so approval is not an entitlement.
• The islands are around 316 square kilometres in total, and in summer the combination of residents and tourists produces crowding, traffic and water pressure that people underestimate.
• Employment is concentrated in a few licensed sectors, so a downturn in online gaming or financial services would affect a large share of foreign residents at once.
• Most work permits are tied to a named employer, which makes changing jobs an administrative process rather than a private decision.

The eight guides

Official sources

• Identita — residence and identity documents
• Residency Malta Agency
• Jobsplus — national employment agency

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.