Question on flighing in and out of Malta whist waiting our residency?

Hey everyone,

Just a quickie that I've put off inquiring about til the zero hour, as I'd been hoping that the clouds would have parted by now and that ever elusive ID residency card would have somehow been bestowed upon us. Sadly, after 5+ months, we have had no such luck.

The main issue is that my Wife and I have to travel to NYC for personal reasons end of the month and had pushed the date as far back as humanly possibly with the dim hope that we'd have heard back from the Dept of Citizenship.

Despite failed phone calls and unanswered emails, we risked once last venture down to the office to see if they could check our status. At the time, nothing could even be found in the system, but within a few days we received a generic email stating that they had our app/papers/etc... and that there was no need for further contact from us on our end. This was about a month ago. So, all we have now as proof that we are in the process of applying for residency in Malta is this particular email.

Our main question is, do you think this will pose any sort of issue once we hit border control on either end of the trip? We've both far surpassed the 3 month tourist visa we initially entered the country under, and really do not wish to complicate matters any further.

Has anyone else had a similar predicament? Any possible suggestions? Or are we simply freaking out too much?  We were in a long distance relationship for years prior to getting married and have dealt with a wide array of treatment (from lovely to scary) at the good old border control. Is it too much of a risk to leave Malta for the present until our 'status' are resident is (hopefully) more stable?

SO SO SO sorry for the length and ranty nature of this post. If anyone has even the smallest pearl of wisdom or shred of experience, it would mean the world to us both.

Many, many kind thanks to those that took the time to read this and perhaps shed some light...

best... xo