South Africans in Malta

Hi and welcome,

If you post again in English you should get a better response.

Regards

We are a South African couple in our mid fifties contemplating Permanent Residency in Malta.
We'd like to hear how fellow South African experience life in Malta?

Hi,

I'm sorry to say that the Permanent Residency Scheme in Malta has been suspended. When it is resumed the conditions will probably be changed in respect of health insurance requirements, neccessary capital involved and the option to obtain real permanent residency.There has been talk of either buying property for a minimum of 500.000 € or renting for at least 1000 € / month which are both major changes to the previous figures.

There is a great South African community here in Malta. I hope that you get some feedback from there too !.

Regards
Ricky

That's true, the island is small. If you like vast natural spaces, Malta won't be right for you. As Ricky said, you can't apply now since the permit scheme has been removed. Temporarily or not, who really knows?If you have money, you could consider other destinations unless Malta is your utmost dream. Personally, I've quickly stopped dreaming

ricky wrote:

Hi,

I'm sorry to say that the Permanent Residency Scheme in Malta has been suspended. When it is resumed the conditions will probably be changed in respect of health insurance requirements, neccessary capital involved and the option to obtain real permanent residency.There has been talk of either buying property for a minimum of 500.000 € or renting for at least 1000 € / month which are both major changes to the previous figures.

There is a great South African community here in Malta. I hope that you get some feedback from there too !.

Regards
Ricky

Hello Ricky
Thanks for the info, is this going to be applied on existing PR holders so we will have also to rent at that price or it is only for new applicants ?
Darlin

Malta is a good place to live in  and   I wouldn't be put off by the  temporary suspension and try to get here if you can! I am well aware that the advisor John Huber has been following up on the issue as he has been consulted by both the Malta Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Real Estate Agents. Why don't you contact him directly -it was he who processed our  permanent residence application and everything ran  very  very smoothly . It seems that he is the most knowlegeable about personal tax on the island  and being Maltese he can give  you so much more of an insider look to Malta

There's a story on the Permanent Residency Scheme in the newspaper today:

timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110322/local/call-to-reactivate-scheme-to-entice-foreigners-to-buy-property-in-malta

It's definitely not in their interest to have this drag on and on without a solution, and they know this, but we are in the Med so it wouldn't surprise me if it was still months away before they agreed on anything. Mañana Mañana.

I would not be so pessimistic, if anything it shows that action is being taken on the issue. Malta is a great life  so once again I would definelty follow up as proposed earlier .The Maltese are becoming choosy as to who they select to be eligible  as a permanent resident .....and that's a good thing Here's another link maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/permanent-residency-scheme-three-month-limbo

Hi,

Things take time in Malta so I would not count on the issue being resolved soon. But that is my personal opinion.

As to permits already granted under the Permanent Residence Scheme , they should be honoured the way they are set up. But even here nothing is set in concrete and changes may be possible as the Permit has to be renewed on a yearly basis.

The points that might change are :

a) Yearly rent of 4150 €
b) Entitlement to permanent residence after 5 years stay in Malta
c) Health insurance questions and coverage

I definitly agree with the opinion of sunshinemalta that Malta seems to becoming pickier on who they let into the scheme and getting legal advice is always good.

Regards
Ricky

You mean yearly tax payment of 4150 €  and not yearly rent
Let's wait and see how things are going to be.
Darlin

Hi,

The minimum yearly tax under the scheme is 4192 € but otherwise 15 % of income but a minimum yearly rental amount of 4150 € is also required if the person does not buy property in Malta.

That amount could well be increased to 12000 € /year which would equate to a top-class appartment in most areas of Malta.

Regards
Ricky

Suggest you visit Malta fo a minimum of 10 days to experience the people, culture and climate. You will probably have a 'love it' or 'hate it' reaction - seldom an in-betweener. We love it and have visited 5 times in the past 2 years - including investigating business opportunities. The people are friendly, helpful, inclined to be a bit abrupt to the point of rudeness at times - but as South Africans you will be able to take that in your stride!  The towns are noisy, frenetic and over populated, but the surrounding villages are rural and laid back - (north and east of the island).
The terrain is stark, sort of North African style - we expected it to be more Mediterranean 'green', but has lovely pockets of greenery and flowers at different times of the year.
Winter is dampish cold - think Cape Town. July/August quite a bit hotter than December/January in SA, but the sea is all around you within a 10 min. walk of many places - not thousands of kilometers away! South Africans' lack of foreign language skills is no problem, English is spoken everywhere. The cost of living is acceptable. Fresh produce plentiful (fruit & veg great and cheap if you enjoy cooking) not much of a selection of fresh meat (lamb almost always sold frozen) but defrosts well) fresh chicken and beef at fair prices. Fresh fish not as good a selection as SA, but acceptable. You will definately find the outdoor life on a par with SA, with the sea thrown in as an added bonus - lovely long walks on the seafront and out in the countryside. The lifestyle is relaxed, and the rest of Europe a cheap and quick flight away if you need to get off the island.

Thanks for all the replies.
I'll be in Europe towards end of June, Maybe I'll pop over for three days to get a feel for Malta.

Thanks for all the replies.
I'll be in Europe towards end of June, Maybe I'll pop over for three days to get a feel for Malta.

here's the latest update regarding the Permanent Residence Scheme
   maltabusinessweekly.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=10876

Thanks sunshinemalta for the link, the subject is under a hot discussion between parties and I think this will have big impact on Maltese economy