Maltese citizenship by naturalisation

hillol100 wrote:

Hello folks,
I would be very grateful if you could share your experience on applying for Maltese citizenship through naturalisation.

I am an E.U. citizen living in Malta. I am planning to apply for naturalisation to become a Maltese citizen. From the identity Malta website, as far as I can understand if I am not wrong, the applicant needs to be legally resident in Malta for 5 years. But does it depend on the discretion of the Maltese Government whether to approve it or not? Does it takes many years to get the application processed?

I know there are many other schemes that involve investing a lot of money. But I am specifically asking about the naturalisation process for E.U. citizens who are exercising treaty rights in Malta.

Many thanks.

Do not expect much from this Maltese law, because it depends entirely on the Maltese authorities to grant you citizenship. To my knowledge the citizenship will be granted when you invest at least € 1 million. That means you can buy citizenship, which was done by a number of people from the wealthy arabic oil countries. Another option you create jobs, If you have a company employing at least 30 people for 5 years you have also good chances to obtain the Maltese citizenship.However, you have to apply and it is very helpful to have political friends and also friends in the catholic church.

Many thanks hanselmar for the input. Although I agree that there are ‘cash for passport' schemes available for ultra rich foreigners, I don't think an EU citizen would be much interested in applying for Maltese citizenship (i.e. citizenship from another EU member state) under those schemes.

Theoretically, the relevant link for naturalisation is here: https://integration.gov.mt/en/Residence … nship.aspx

I was more interested to know about the success rate for other fellow EU citizens who have resided in Malta for 5 years or more and applied for naturalisation based on residency. I know, the processing time can be slower and the success  depends on the discretion of the Minister. However, it would beneficial to know about the experience from applicants' point of view.

I have lived here 6+years and only know of one expat from an EU country who has successfully received Citizenship and that was after marrying a local.