Moving to Malta from the UK

You'll find loads of answers on the forum here, but I'll try and give a few answers. 1. The UK is still EU so till now you don't need a visa or work permit. Who knows what will come with Brexit.. 2. If you're good at plumbing I'd say there is definitely a demand for that, I don't want to offend anyone but Maltese plumbers, electricians and the likes often don't provide very good quality... 3.If you want to find accommodation, come AFTER THE SUMMER!!! Atm prices are crazy, because of tourists and seasonal workers...

Hi Tim, my names Joe, only been here now for 18 months, but do know at the moment, while still part of EU , you don't need a work permit or visa. Whether that changes after brexit nobody knows. As for work in your line, obviously Malta has plumbing, but no main land gas, all gas for cooking/ heating is by bottled gas. I've no experience in any of those fields so can't advise on that. Wages here are also a lot lower than in UK. If you find a job in your field you could probably expect wage to be almost half of UK wage. But got to judge that against cost of living here. Housing depends on what you need and area you want. I was lucky enough to find something perfect for my needs, especially with having a dog . All I can say in all honesty is that it's the best move myself and my wife have ever made. We now have a luvly home( still renting at moment) we both have found great jobs, and it's always sunny on your days off. Good luck

wow thank you very much for both replies that's great, I thought I would at least need a visa so that's great that we don't.

thanks bernie I was kind of expecting a lower wage but then cost of living and all I hoped I wouldn't be to much worse off.

thanks j black I appreciate your comments about the gas etc.

So where is the best place to start? for me and the wife to think about Would you say? we wouldn't be looking for something extremely expensive or the cheapest....bug what is expensive in malta accommodation wise?

is it cheap to run a car?

thanks I really appreciate you taking the time to reply...
tim

While you don't need a visa per se you kind of do.

EU free movement doesn't mean just show up and leach off foreign country as Brexit press wants you to believe. You have to be able to survive this means either you need a job and pay NI or you need to prove self sufficiency via a means test.

If you have either of those you get a residence card and can stay.

As mentioned earlier the best time to move here is either before or after summer, with regards to cost of rentals this has been discussed many times before so  please read previous posts, rental costs have risen a lot this year. Do not believe what you see on agents websites as they are normally outof date.
Good luck in your move.

thank you for the good luck gozomo.

volcano thank you...but I'm not moving to leach off another government...without pulling your weight and working you don't have a chance of living at all in my book...

but still thank you for your comments I will ha e a brief look through older posts again but thought just aswell to make my own and get to the points that I was most interested in

a few more questions in my last post if anyone could answer would be most helpful...

thanks again to all

Hi Tim,
Welcome to the forum.
I can echo what the previous posters say and would add if you could do AC it would be useful. Be prepared to, as they say, "dumb down" as the standards here cannot be compared to the UK.  It is also said that employers will always consider Maltese first when advertising a job, this would be unacceptable in UK
Plumbing here is basic, as is electric. My apartment wouldn't pass  any inspection in the UK. You may have to to take some sort of test  here regarding qualifications to get your ticket here but as I am retired I cannot be certain on this. My last 10 years of work was in the commercial BMS/ HVAC industry.

Have you spent much time here as the general consensus is that you need to spend some considerable time to see if it's to your liking. You need to love fireworks, no, I should say ARTILLERY FIRE, just as I write this they have just started at 10pm.
Housing costs vary from a few K per month in the main areas of Malta to 300 a month on Gozo, where I am, a lot less work here though.
As to finding property to rent, this forum has a housing section but best use F.book.
By all means use an agent but do it in the shop, not online as what is advertised is seldom actually available.
It took us 2 days to find our apartment and in that time we looked at 12 ranging from 350 - 500 pcm. ( in January)
If you like the heat and sunshine then there is plenty of that here.
Good luck.
Ray

Can't really comment about running a car but heard insurance is cheaper than elsewhere...

Accommodation wise, as GozoMo said there are lots of posts here on the forum.. You might consider Marsaskala or the south in general as flats tend to be cheaper there..

As for the 'visa', search e residence card on the forum for more info... but I know from experience you'll find jobs before you have that card, too...

One more idea, especially as a plumber - you might consider starting your own business...

Forgot the car, we bought one for 800, petrol is about 1.31 and diesel about 1.13,
insurance was about 130 PA TPF&F and road tax is abou 230 PA however to get a car that is suitable for these road you will need to find a rally car
Ray,  off to bed now the fireworks have finished. oops, no they haven't...

Hope they're not keeping you up Ray. thanks for all your comments I really appreciate it and hope your enjoying your retirement

bernie, thanks mate I have thought about a business but maybe need to familiarise myself a little more to start with...and I'll have a look for the card. thanks

I'm possible thinking about this after another holiday to malta, ,maybe moving after the summer next year...so who knows what rules and regs would have changed by then...it maybe sooner...but that's a ballpark timeframe were looking at....ray when did you move to malta?

thanks for all your comments it's greatly appreciated....

We got the apartment in Jan 17 and moved here  on 28th March after I officially retired and yes, the fireworks are still going.
The problem with putting it off till next year is this thing termed Brexit, whilst the UK is still in the EU there is no problem with free movement etc. but once it is completed, who knows what will happen.  It doesn't bother me though.
Ray