Over €50 million generated from Residency Malta programmes in 2022

Residency Malta generated over €50 million from its programmes in 2022, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said.

Residency Malta runs a number of programmes, however, during a press conference on Thursday, Camilleri focused on two of the programs: the Nomad Residence permit and the Malta Permanent Residence Program (MPRP).

The CEO of Residency Malta, Charles Mizzi, said in the same press conference that there has been a significant increase in applications since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

When speaking about the Nomad residency permit, Camilleri said that in 2022, 500 applications were submitted under this scheme, taking the total number of applications that have been submitted since the start of the programme in June of 2021 up to 668.

Camilleri pointed out how towards the end of the year, the number of applications tripled, taking this to be a positive sign moving forward.

Camilleri said that the annual average salary of these people was €84,000, and in a month their average monthly expenditure was €2,800. He said that the direct expenditure, based on 500 applicants per annum, was €16 million.

Camilleri added that out of the people who applied to renew their permits, 72% were approved for renewal.

Statistics also showed that the average age of people who would apply for a residency permit was 37. 29% of the applicants also had their family approved and were able to bring them as well.

Out of all the applicants, 16% came from the United Kingdom, 14% came from the United States, and another 14% came from China. Overall Asia was the most popular continent as 38% of the applicants came from there.

Camilleri also said that these numbers have shown that Malta is seen as an attractive place for remote workers to live.

“They are finding an attractive country, they will find internet service, a place to live a comfortable life, a place where they can send their children to school, they will find a place with good healthcare; and that is why these people are viewing Malta as an attractive place where they can work.”

In 2022 there were 780 applications for the MPRP, whereas previously in 2021 there were 259 applicants and in 2020 there were 342 applicants. Just like the Nomad residence permit, Camilleri said that applications increased significantly towards the end of the year.

The most successful year for this programme was in 2019 with 974 applicants, however, Mizzi said that the figures will eventually reach pre-Covid numbers, especially since the majority of applicants in 2022 came in the last 6 months after Covid-19 restrictions eased and were lifted.

Of these applications, 71% were approved, 10% were rejected, 16% were in process, and 3% were withdrawn.

Camilleri said that the MPRP made €33.4 million in 2022. Of these, €10 million were contributed to the consolidated fund and €6,422,400 was injected into the National Development and Social Fund (NDSF).

The people who applied for this program invested €12,453,400 in new property purchases and there was €4,512,400 in expenditure on new property lease agreements.

“When one looks at all these results, we believe that this confirms that our country remains very attractive for people who would like to reside, start a family, work, or start a company; they pick our country because they know that our country will offer a comfortable quality of life.”