Malta Work Visa 2026: Types, Cost, Processing Time, How to Apply

Who needs a Malta work visa at all

• EU, EEA or Swiss citizen: no visa and no work permit. Register with Identita for an eResidence card after three months.
• Ukrainian under temporary protection: you may work with the protection document; Jobsplus registers the employment. This runs until 4 March 2028.
• Everyone else, including India, Nepal, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Serbia and Colombia: your employer in Malta must apply for a Single Permit for you, and once it is approved in principle you apply for the national visa at the consulate or visa centre handling Malta in your country. That route is below.

Malta is small, about 560,000 people, and its construction, hospitality, care, transport and delivery sectors run on non-EU workers; roughly one worker in four is a foreigner. That is why "Malta work visa" searches are so high in India and Nepal. It also means the government has tightened the rules twice since 2023, after agencies brought in workers for jobs that did not exist.

The permit and visa types, with their Maltese names

• Single Permit (residence and work): the one route for almost everyone. The employer applies to Identita (the agency that replaced Identity Malta) with Jobsplus, the public employment service, giving its labour market opinion. Valid one year, renewable, tied to one employer.
• Jobsplus labour market test: the employer must advertise the vacancy with Jobsplus and EURES for at least two weeks (longer for some roles) and show no Maltese or EU candidate was suitable. Since 2024 Jobsplus also checks that the employer has not had high turnover of foreign workers.
• Key Employee Initiative (KEI): a fast track for managers and specialists earning over about 30,000 euro a year, decided in 5 working days. Not a trades route.
• Specialist Employee Initiative (SEI): a fast track, in place since 2024, for people with a degree or qualification matched to the job and pay of at least about 25,000 euro a year. Some skilled trades with formal certificates, such as electricians and HVAC technicians, can fit.
• Temporary work permit for study or research, and the Nomad Residence Permit: not for employee trades.
• National long-stay visa (D): issued once the Single Permit is approved in principle, by the Maltese consulate or by another Schengen state's consulate representing Malta, often through VFS Global.

The authority is Identita at identita.gov.mt, with Jobsplus at jobsplus.gov.mt.

Who files what, and in which order

• Step 1, the employer advertises with Jobsplus, prepares an employment contract at or above the minimum wage (about 221 euro a week in 2026) and a Jobsplus engagement form, and proves it has accommodation and health insurance arranged for you.
• Step 2, the employer submits the Single Permit application online to Identita with your passport, CV, qualifications, a police conduct certificate, a medical screening declaration and the lease or housing declaration.
• Step 3, Identita issues an approval in principle letter after Jobsplus and the police clear the file.
• Step 4, you apply for the national visa with that letter; for many countries this means a VFS appointment, because Malta's own consular network is small.
• Step 5, in Malta: within the visa's validity you attend Identita for biometrics, complete a medical check (chest X-ray and blood tests at a licensed clinic), and collect the residence card. The employer registers you with Jobsplus on day one.

Care workers have a separate path worth knowing: Malta set a skills card requirement for carers in 2024, meaning you must pass a short course and English assessment with Identita and the health authorities before the permit is approved, and the employer must be a licensed care provider. Hospitality workers face a similar skills pass for front-of-house jobs since 2024. Since 2024 an agency that recruits for Malta from abroad must be licensed by the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations, and the employer, not you, must pay the recruitment cost.

Official fees in euro

• Single Permit application: 280.50 euro, paid to Identita, normally by the employer; the law allows the employer to pay it and forbids recovering it from wages below the minimum wage.
• National visa: 90 euro at the consulate, plus the VFS service fee where used.
• Residence card renewal: 280.50 euro again each year, unless the employer pays.
• Medical screening in Malta: about 60 to 100 euro.
• Police conduct certificate, apostille and translations in your country: 50 to 150 euro.

Figures as of October 2026; check Identita's fee page for today's amounts. Agents in India, Nepal and the Philippines have charged 5,000 to 10,000 euro for Maltese jobs; Malta's authorities closed several in 2024 and 2025 and refused the permits they filed. Nothing in that sum is an official fee.

Processing time

• Jobsplus advertising: 2 to 4 weeks before the application can be filed.
• Single Permit approval in principle: Identita's target is 6 to 8 weeks; in 2023 it ran to 4 to 6 months during the backlog, and in 2025 it was back to 2 to 3 months for complete files. Incomplete files are rejected rather than queued, which is the most common delay.
• Visa: 15 days by law from the appointment; appointment waits at VFS in New Delhi, Kathmandu, Manila and Islamabad add 2 to 8 weeks.
• Card in Malta: biometrics appointment within 2 to 4 weeks, card 4 to 8 weeks after.

From the employer's advertisement to your first day, 3 to 6 months is the honest range. It slips when the employer's housing declaration or the police certificate is missing, and because Identita handles a very large number of applications for a small agency.

Documents and the legalisation step

For the Single Permit and visa: passport valid at least three months beyond the permit, the signed contract and Jobsplus form, a CV in the Europass format, qualification certificates relevant to the job, a police conduct certificate from your country of residence (apostilled or legalised, translated into English or Maltese), passport photos, proof of accommodation in Malta (a registered lease or the employer's declaration), private health insurance covering Malta, and a medical declaration. Malta accepts the Hague apostille; Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan documents go through consular legalisation instead.

Qualifications are checked for the SEI fast track and for regulated trades (electricians need a Maltese licence, nurses need Council registration); for other trades the CV and contract are enough.

Reality check: what people get wrong about Malta

• Paying an agent for the job: the employer must pay recruitment costs, and since 2024 Identita asks employers to declare this; a job bought for 7,000 euro is a job the authorities may cancel.
• The permit is tied to one employer: changing jobs needs a new Single Permit application, with the Jobsplus test again. Leaving without it makes your stay illegal.
• The "three employers" rule: since 2024 a worker who switches employer repeatedly within a year is not renewed. Choose carefully.
• Housing: Malta's rents are high for the pay; the employer's declared accommodation is often shared, and the lease must be registered with the Housing Authority to count.
• Language: English is official and enough for most work; Maltese is not required for the permit but counts toward long-term residence.
• Family reunification: possible after one year on a Single Permit, with income of the median wage plus 20 per cent for each family member; many workers find the threshold hard to reach.
• Delivery and ride-hailing: these jobs were a major entry for Indians and Nepalis until 2024; new permits for platform couriers were stopped and existing ones not renewed in many cases. Check the current rule before accepting such an offer.

Where this leaves you

Read the page for your own country: working in Malta from India, from Nepal or from the Philippines. The trades Malta hires from abroad are covered in construction jobs in Malta, hotel jobs in Malta and caregiver jobs in Malta, and the waiting times in detail in Malta work permit processing time.

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