Married to Maltese citizen, moving to Malta to work and live??

If your husband has always been a Maltese citizen and moved to the UK when the UK was an EU member state then he will likely have activated his freedom of movement rights, meaning that he will receive extra residence rights related to accompanying family members should he move back. This means that you would be entitled under EU law to accompany him. You can apply for this residence status after having moved to Malta. The link below gives more details on your rights. 

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?ca … ;langId=en

*A few caveats
(1) My answer is based on EU law and the application of EU law in another EU country. The rules I mentioned for your case are certainly generic to the EU. However, not every EU state follows the rules properly. Malta may (or may not) be compliant with EU law in this regard.

(2) Things may get a little murkier if your husband became a Maltese citizen recently.

Free movement rights only apply to EU people not in their country though. If he, as a citizen, comes here the applicable laws have nothing to do with the EU unless she is a EU citizen.

Spouses for example have to apply for work permits annually etc, its a very different story than a TCN spouse to a EU citizen living in Malta.

Volcane -  this isn't true.

EU case law established that a migrant has a right to return with a TCN partner.   Its termed the Surinder Singh route.

I've seen it used by migrants in an number of EU countries. Indeed, it isn't too unusual to find citizens of EU country X moving with their TCN partner to EU country Y. After a certain period they are then allowed to both move to country X under the same generous EU rules that allowed them both to move to country Y.  I've also seen it used on a number of occasions by Brits who lived with their EU partners in the UK and then wish to move with their EU partner to the partner's home country.

Countries tend not to advertise this, and its not obvious that all EU countries implement the rule properly, but returning with a TCN spouse is a fundamental right under EU law. 

It is referenced by the European Commission below (2.22) in a Q&A for EU citizens in the UK. The question concerns moving from the UK  to an EU state with a non-EU family member:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default … -uk_en.pdf

Some background and more details (in a UK context) are given below.
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/surinde … ion-route/

In my answer above, the link isn't shown right now "[link under review]".


To find the information provided by the European Commission, google for "Questions and Answers – the rights of EU citizens in the United Kingdom after the end of the transition period"

Thanks for all the feedback.
I emailed Identity Malta to enquire and although their response wasn't a clear yes/no, you can apply for 'Freedom of Movement' in Malta if married to a Maltese citizen.

I understand that this means, following an interview in person with various documents which need to be presented, you may, on discretion, be given the right to live and work in Malta if approved.

https://www.identitymalta.com/unit/expatriates-unit/

You should also contact "Your Europe Direct" . I'm not sure if the link below will show but google for the name.

It is essentially a free legal advice service offered by the EU on matters such as Freedom of Movement.  Their lawyers respond to queries and will tell you what rights you have for your specific set of circumstances. They usually respond fairly quickly to queries. Their answer could be helpful when dealing with Identity Malta. 

https://europa.eu/youreurope/advice/index_en.htm

mrfin wrote:

Thanks for all the feedback.
I emailed Identity Malta to enquire and although their response wasn't a clear yes/no, you can apply for 'Freedom of Movement' in Malta if married to a Maltese citizen.

I understand that this means, following an interview in person with various documents which need to be presented, you may, on discretion, be given the right to live and work in Malta if approved.

https://www.identitymalta.com/unit/expatriates-unit/

Hello and welcome to the forum.
My husband is  Maltese and I obtained Freedom of Movement soon after we married. This was merely a collection of documents and a stamp in my British passport. I was permitted to live in Malta with my husband indefinitely, work without the need of an additional work permit and entitled to free health care. I basically had the same rights as a Maltese citizen expect I could not vote in a Maltese general election.  I have since obtained Maltese citizenship, as this is available to persons who have been married to a Maltese citizen for 5 years or more. I was not obliged to surrender my British citizenship upon receiving Maltese citizenship as both Britain and Malta allow multiple citizenship.

My son holds Maltese citizenship and married a TCN, so his wife needed to apply for Freedom of Movement last year. It was a very straight forward process, apart from providing various documents, both of them attended the interview you mentioned and they were both asked questions about the other person (sort of Mr & Mrs quiz questions). I assume this interview is a precaution to prove that the applicants have a genuine marriage, rather than a marriage of convenience so the non-Maltese person can stay in Malta. She was issued with a spouse residence permit within a week or two of the interview.

Yes, Identity Malta would in theory have the discretion to refuse an applicant Freedom of Movement if it was considered that a marriage was not genuine and the application was made under false pretenses, but I know many mixed marriage couples settled here with one spouse holding Freedom of Movement.

Please feel free to private message me if you have any further questions.

Evreham, when you move to Malta I assume the UK were still part of the EU, things may have changed now.

As I pointed out in my earlier responses (also with a link to the Commission Q&A for Brits' post-Brexit rights), a TCN partner of an EU citizen who is exercising Freedom of Movement has residence rights under EU law also when that EU citizen moves back to his/her homeland. The EU citizen is considered to have "activated" his/her right to be treated as a mobile EU citizen (rather than, eg, a Maltese national) for the purposes of family unification  rights.

GozoMo wrote:

Evreham, when you move to Malta I assume the UK were still part of the EU, things may have changed now.

Yes, UK was part of the EU, but at that stage but Malta was not yet part of the EU.

TCN spouses of Maltese citizens are still able to apply for Freedom of Movement until today. This is a procedure that is dealt with by the Expatriates Unit of Identity Malta.

I lived in Malta for 25 years before obtaining dual British/Maltese citizenship in 2007, during which time I was able to work here without applying for any additional work permits and received free medical care including a stay at hospital, due to the fact that I held Freedom of Movement. I enjoyed these benefits not because I was an EU citizen, Malta only joined the EU in May 2004.

To date, these same benefits remain in place to all persons holding Freedom of Movement. As I mentioned in my previous post, my daughter-in law is a TCN and only applied for Freedom of Movement last year (2020).