Portuguese couple moving to Malta!

Hi, are you in Malta already? or did you change your mind?
anyway i'll try to answer your questions.

About the work.
Well, i don't know to much about it this because i'm self employed and my girlfriend works with me in our apartment. But for your girlfriend degree, i think in Malta there is plenty of museums and restoration projects, so it will not be a problem to find a related job. But that's just my opinion.
And for you as a civil engineer, it's even better, because almost evertyhing in Malta is under construction .
iGaming is good to, i know that a lot of people are coming to Malta to work in the industry, i don't know how does work that, but if they can do it, i'm sure you will too.

Cost of living
I don't know to many places, just lived in Barcelona a few moths before to came to Malta, and Malta is really cheaper compared with that.
We have a one bedroom apartment, with good furniture, sea view, 2 air conditioners, 2 balconies, good building, near to everything in Bugibba city, and we pay 300 monthly + 70 for water and eletricity. And it could be possible that we are paying to much but for the good furniture, the view, and the good area i think is ok, because sometimes you can get a better price, but there are not fully furnished, or have really old furniture. And if you want to live in some other cities near to the center of the island, then is cheaper too. So depends on what you are looking for.

Last week we saw another 1 bedroom apartment at 260 monthly in Mġarr, another with 3 bedrooms, seaview, at 450 in Salina, and a big house in Gharghur at 550, with 3 bedrooms, 2 floors and a terrace in the roof(sea and mountain view), 2 living rooms.
But all they are not fully furnished, and the ones who have it, it's a really old furniture. Also this cities are not too populars, not to many foreign people living there, but if you are looking for a quiet place, there is where you want to go. Quiet in the day, and even more quiet in the night. So again, depends on what kind of life you want to have.

What i like about bugibba, qawra, and all st paul's bay is that everything is close, and if you want a drink there is plenty of bars, and restaurants to go. And is not to expensive and noisy compared with Sliema or st julians.

With the supermarket you have to go to the big ones, the smalls ones sometimes charge you more. Depends on where you live, just try to find the big one Also we do our shopping online at Malta Supermarket, they have good price and delivery to your home. You can check the prices in their website, and have your own conclusions. If you like pasta then you will love the "pastizerias" where maltese people sells home made pasta and pizza, really really cheap! Me and my girlfriend sometimes eat for less than 5 euros both.

Transport
The bus drivers are a little crazy, but i have seen worse things in life, so you'll be find. The only thing i can said is for some cities they do not run late, so if you want to go to dance or have a drink in the night, you'll have to pay a taxi.

I hope this help.


By the way, we are from Latin America . I hope to see you in Malta soon. Bye.

Igaming here is big, but it can be hard to get into as well.. I would get listed with some of the recruiters here in Malta even before you make the jump over here just to see how quickly you might find work...   seems like the average is about 6 months.

As for the GF there is a LOT of historic restoration around here, BUT being malta you may have to know someone just to get in on the bottom level, the jobs are all govt contracts and this is a very close and closed circle...     Im not trying to bust your bubble or anything just be sure that before you get here you are prepared with wither a job lined up or money in the bank until you get the jobs you are looking for.


Malta is beautiful, very touristy so theres a lot to do, but be prepared before you land.

Chad

Thank you guys for the answers

Yeah, i will be moving to Malta in some weeks!!

Now i'm looking for a room to stay with my girl in the first days, until we find a nice flat/house to rent. But it's not being easy

Hope to see you soon

google hostels in Malta and you will find rooms available... have a great trip and hopefully you will enjoy Malta

Hi again!


I have another question. If i rent a property through an agency, how will the bills of water, electricity, internet works? Will them be send directy to me, or they do to the landlord and i have to pay him, or do them go to the agency and i pay to the agency?


Thanks and Kind Regards

Mine I pay the property owner.
BE CAREFULL on this though, eater/electric bills come in quarterly or yearly
Plan ahead and pay attention.

If you look back at some of the old blogs here you will find horror stories about owners overcharging

It's not possible to ask for the invoices?

The agency only provides you with the apartment, you pay the comission, and then everything is with the owner.
In my case we pay 70 euros per month for the services to the owner, and we write that on a book, then when the bill comes (every 4 months) we see the balance, and if i still own money i pay to him the difference, if not he keeps the money for the next bills.
Never had a problem with him. For me, most Maltese people are trustable, when we came here we did not have all the money for the agency comission(usually half of the first month rent), the rent for the first month, and the deposit (is the same amount for the rent) so they let us take the apartment, and one week later i payed the rest. I think that kind of things are a little difficult to see in any other place.

It's better if you pay an hotel for a few days and then take a look at the apartments and make the decision as soon as possible, because if you pay a holyday apartment, could be a little expensive to pay the entire month.

For us the electricity and water charges run in the name of our landlord. We do not pay anything monthly but put money aside and keep track of the meter. When the bill arrives for our landlord he gives us a copy and we pay the amount to him. It is very transparent and fair. He even passes on his reduced rate to us !

The cable TV,internet and telephone is in my name and billed to me directly. I pay through direct debit.

So you will have to discuss the billing with your future landlord and make sure that it is transparent. I can also recommend to keep track of your meters and check the reading at regular intervals ,so there is no surprise when the bill is presented by your landlord. Malta is not the cheapest for electricity!

If you are a resident you can also have the bills in your own name and take advantage of the reduced rates. But that means applying for the change to your name and a downpayment of several 100 €'s.

Ricky

Thanks for your replies!

I have another question. I have been searching for No download limit internet, and i found one that seems good in MElita (50€). My doubt is if itŽs possible to do a contract of 6 months with them, or if i'm obligated to do a long term contract (24months!!!).

ricky wrote:

If you are a resident you can also have the bills in your own name and take advantage of the reduced rates. But that means applying for the change to your name and a downpayment of several 100 €'s.

Ricky

It also needs the permission of your landlord, and they might not be willing to give it for tax reasons

Th3_ZaKa wrote:

Thanks for your replies!

I have another question. I have been searching for No download limit internet, and i found one that seems good in MElita (50€). My doubt is if itŽs possible to do a contract of 6 months with them, or if i'm obligated to do a long term contract (24months!!!).

melita normally do a 15 or 24 month contract...as for download limits - on lower priced packages there is no limit on downloads overnight (11pm until 7am)

not sure if they would do a shorter term contract - always worth asking though.

And other companies do shorter contracts?

ricky wrote:

If you are a resident you can also have the bills in your own name and take advantage of the reduced rates. But that means applying for the change to your name and a downpayment of several 100 €'s.

Ricky

Just as note - we are resident and dont have the bills in our name but we had our landlord apply for us to be named as consumer/occupiers and although the bill is in his name we still get the eco discounts and we didnt have to pay the 466 euros deposit....

it does however need for you to have residency and id cards or an NI number to prove you are paying tax, (although i know people who have an NI number but dont even work and they get the ecos discounts too)......

Th3_ZaKa wrote:

And other companies do shorter contracts?

as there is only two companies doing cable/fibre optic internet here...Go and Melita...the choice is limited

toonarmy9752 wrote:

it does however need for you to have residency and id cards or an NI number to prove you are paying tax,

You don't need to be paying tax, merely registered with the tax authorities and thus having a TIN (tax identification number) - if your income earned in or brought into Malta is below the tax free free allowances (after double taxation relief), you won't pay tax.