Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told Parliament that in 2025, 87 people were granted refugee status by Maltese authorities. Simultaneously, 340 refugees had their refugee status revoked.
The Minister for the Interior noted that of the 340 people who were stripped of their refugee status, 335 had their refugee status removed on the basis that this level of international protection had expired. Minister Camilleri did not disclose why the remaining five persons were deemed to no longer be considered as refugees.
Minister Camilleri disclosed no additional details surrounding the 87 individuals officially made refugees in Malta last year, nor how many entered the Maltese islands through legal and irregular means (including by sea). Throughout the years, irregular sea arrivals into Malta have been on a drastic downturn due to state efforts to disincentivise human trafficking and the rings of organised crime managing these dangerous sea expeditions from North Africa to Europe.
In 2024, just 238 individuals entered Malta by sea – a sharp decrease from the 3,405 persons marked as sea arrivals in 2019. Malta had 380 sea arrivals in 2023, 444 in 2022, 838 in 2021, 2,281 in 2020, and 1,445 in 2018.
Refugee status is a form of international protection for persons deemed to be unable to return to their country of origin due to a well-founded concern of being persecuted. Refugees can be persecuted, according to UN treaties, for their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
People are supposed to be granted refugee status to legally deem them safe from being returned back home, where they may encounter war, violence, personal persecution, and other life-threatening perils.
Information on the number of persons who received refugee status and had this international protection revoked by Maltese authorities was requested by PN MP Jerome Caruana Cilia.