Malta After the Court Ruling: What Residency Still Buys, and What It No Longer Does

One Maltese programme is still open; the famous one is not

Malta spent two decades at the centre of Europe’s residence- and citizenship-by-investment industry, and as of September 2026 it runs exactly one such scheme: the Malta Permanent Residence Programme, usually shortened to MPRP. It grants permanent residence to non-EU nationals who pay a fixed set of government fees, hold a qualifying Maltese property and pass due diligence. The far more contentious product — Maltese, and therefore European Union, citizenship in return for a contribution — has been withdrawn. Any material still describing a Maltese passport as something obtainable on payment of a set amount is out of date, and materially so.

The MPRP itself was substantially restructured by Legal Notice 146 of 2025, which replaced a tiered fee system with a flatter one. The administrative fee for the main applicant is €60,000, paid in two stages: €15,000 on submission and €45,000 once a Letter of Approval in Principle is issued. On top sits a government contribution of €37,000, now charged at the same rate whether the applicant buys or leases, replacing an older structure that penalised renters heavily. A €2,000 donation to a registered Maltese non-governmental organisation is also compulsory. That comes to €99,000 in non-refundable payments for a single applicant before any property cost at all, which is why the MPRP is more accurately described as a fee-led scheme with a property condition attached than as an investment.

• Property: either a purchase at a minimum of €375,000 or a lease at a minimum of €14,000 a year, held for at least five years. The previously lower thresholds for Gozo and the south of Malta no longer apply.
• Assets: applicants must evidence either €500,000 in total capital including €150,000 in financial assets, or €650,000 including €75,000 in financial assets.
• Family: spouses and minor children no longer attract a separate contribution; other adult dependants are charged €7,500 each.
• Presence: there is no minimum stay requirement, though applicants must attend in Malta to give biometrics, and non-visa-free nationals need a Schengen visa to do so.
• Outcome: approval is discretionary and follows background checks on the applicant and every dependant. Applications are refused, and the fees already paid are not returned.

Struck down in Luxembourg, repealed in Valletta

Malta’s citizenship scheme, most recently run as the Granting of Citizenship for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment, was the subject of an infringement action brought by the European Commission. On 29 April 2025, in Case C-181/23, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union held that it breached Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union together with the duty of sincere cooperation in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union. The reasoning was that granting naturalisation essentially in exchange for predetermined payments or investments, to people with no genuine link to the country, turns the acquisition of Union citizenship into a commercial transaction and erodes the relationship of solidarity and good faith on which nationality is founded. Malta complied rather than litigated further: the Maltese Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Act XXI of 2025, gazetted on 24 July 2025, removed the investor-citizenship provisions entirely, including the fixed contribution amounts and the statutory role of licensed agents.

What Malta retained is a discretionary merit-based naturalisation route under its Citizenship Act, for people judged to have rendered exceptional service to Malta or to humanity. The Maltese authorities have been explicit that this is not the old scheme repackaged: there is no published price, no set contribution and no guaranteed outcome. The judgment’s significance, though, reaches well past Malta. It is the first time the Court has held that a member state’s naturalisation practice can itself breach EU law because of how nationality is granted, which hands the Commission a tested legal route against any remaining or future EU citizenship-by-investment arrangement. The ruling addressed citizenship, not residence, so golden visas were not directly covered — but read alongside the European Parliament’s 2022 call for golden passports to be banned and golden visas regulated, and the Commission’s recommendation of the same year urging states to repeal investor-citizenship schemes, the direction of travel is not ambiguous.

Before you commit any money

The MPRP’s costs have been reset twice since the programme’s 2021 launch, each time by legal notice rather than primary legislation, which shows how quickly the terms can move. The qualifying property is a real asset with real price risk and limited liquidity in a small market, and the five-year holding condition means an applicant cannot simply exit if the numbers stop working. Everything above reflects the position as understood in September 2026; these rules change frequently and should be re-checked against the Residency Malta Agency and the Maltese government gazette before any decision. This article is general information, not legal, immigration or tax advice. Eligibility, processing and tax outcomes differ by nationality and personal circumstances, approval is never assured, and anyone considering either route should take advice from a licensed immigration lawyer and consult the official Maltese sources directly. Plain Investor does not sell, broker or advise on any of these programmes, receives no commission from them, and is not affiliated with any immigration advisory firm.

This article is educational and general in nature. It isn’t personalized investment, tax, or legal advice — always weigh your own circumstances, or talk to a licensed professional, before making financial decisions.

Tags: malta, residence by investment, eu law