Kyle Patrick Camilleri
Wednesday, 16 July 2025, 14:51
Last update: about 1 day ago
Malta will be scrapping the golden passport scheme following a European Court of Justice ruling, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said Wednesday.
The Maltese government will now be proposing legal amendments to fully abolish the country’s citizenship by investment scheme and expand upon the attainment of citizenship by merit.
The ECJ ruling in April found that Malta’s golden passport scheme in violation of European law. The European Commission took Malta to court over its citizenship by investment scheme, which was first launched in 2014, arguing that the sale of Maltese citizenship – and by extension, European citizenship – was in breach of the Treaty of the EU.
The ECJ agreed with the European Commission, saying that Malta’s scheme amounts to “the commercialisation of the granting of the nationality of a member state and by extension that of union citizenship.” The ECJ ruled therefore that Malta had failed to fulfil its Treaty of the EU obligations.
The legal amendments to the Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188, to eventually enact these changes were published today by the government.
These amendments will aim to strengthen present laws relating to citizenship by merit and will emphasise the need for providing added value and job creation to the Maltese islands. These amendments were also in line with Malta’s Vision 2050, Camilleri said.
New legislation will propose that “the Minister may grant a certificate of naturalisation as a citizen of Malta by merit to an alien or stateless person, namely to a person who renders exceptional services or who makes an exceptional contribution, including through job creation, to the Republic of Malta or to humanity, or whose naturalisation is of exceptional interest to the Republic of Malta.”
Under the proposed amendments, such “exceptional services” and “exceptional contributions” shall refer to those made by “scientists, researchers, athletes, sport persons, artists, cultural performers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and technologists, amongst other persons of interest to the Republic of Malta.” This will also be open to persons who are deemed by the responsible Minister “to possess the necessary skills, profile qualities, talents, and expertise” that are considered to benefit or advance Malta’s national interest.
Through the proposed amendments, the Maltese government intends to remove the passport-selling programme in its entirety, as well as all aspects that made Maltese law non-compliant, such as any transactional elements, programme agents, and all references to the programme granting citizenship for exceptional services.
It was stated that by expanding upon the citizenship by merit clauses in national legislation, Malta shall be complying with the European Court of Justice’s ruling in April. Back then, the ECJ had agreed with the European Commission that Malta’s golden passport scheme amounted to “the commercialisation of the granting of the nationality of a member state and by extension that of union citizenship,” and that additionally, Malta had failed to fulfil its obligations as an EU Member State, as defined by the EU treaties.
On Wednesday, Minister Camilleri said that the proposed legal amendments will ensure that Maltese laws fully conform with the ECJ’s sentence (Case C-181/23). He said that the distribution of Maltese citizenship is to remain a national competence as Malta has always argued, and as the ECJ’s ruling confirmed.
Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme – which is nicknamed as a ‘golden passport’ scheme – was introduced in 2014 under the moniker of the Individual Investor Programme, with the ultra-wealthy being able to buy Maltese citizenship for something around the range of €1 million, together with property commitments.
The scheme has been vehemently defended by the Labour government which introduced it, which argued that it has brought a much-needed injection of cash into Malta’s economy and that citizenship was a national competence, but also criticised within the European Union over concerns that the scheme undermines the bloc’s borders.
It attracted a legal challenge from the European Commission which argued that there was no “genuine link” between golden passport holders and Malta and that Malta was therefore not fulfilling its obligations under the Treaty of the EU when it comes to citizenship and the principle of sincere cooperation.
Minister Camilleri said that through these changes, the country shall be eliminating the practice of filling out a “tick-the-box” exercise to render one’s eligibility for Maltese citizenship, as well as direct financial compensation and any necessary pre-requirements. Resultantly, the word “investor” will be redacted from this Act.
He noted that the focus will be on a person’s ability to offer a service to the country, rather than fulfil a financial exercise.
The Home Affairs Minister confirmed that the Maltese islands shall not be heeding any sort of golden residency scheme either.
Malta has had its naturalisation by merit concept since 2017. The government’s lawyers described to journalists that they felt that Malta could use this concept and expand upon it as a possible means to back away from its scheme which has allowed foreigners to acquire Maltese citizenship through direct investment.
The final say on whether or not a person should be given Maltese citizenship will fall in the hands of the responsible Minister. Prior to the Minister’s decision, an evaluation will be conducted for each application received. It was established that given the wide range of roles for which a person may attain Maltese citizenship through these changes, every case shall be evaluated while factoring in the country’s needs and political will, and not through a preset criteria as was the case previously.
It was made clear throughout that expanding upon Malta’s citizenship-by-merit initiative will make the Maltese islands “no different to other countries.” In addition, the government has opted for the expansion of citizenship by merit because this programme, historically, “has always worked.”
Minister Camilleri added that a person granted Maltese citizenship through merit may have their citizenship revoked if they do not fulfil the reasons and obligations under which they pitched for themselves to be made a Maltese citizen.
All frameworks and organs set up for the controversial golden passport scheme will be retained and strengthened in order to audit and regulate this naturalisation process. One such safeguard is the role of an independent regulator who audits persons granted Maltese citizenship.
During this press briefing, the Home Affairs Minister stated that through these changes, the country will consider giving citizenship to people on a minimum wage should they apply and abide by the open criteria since “one can contribute through several means.”
Once these changes are formally introduced, following Parliament’s approval, a person will be able to apply for Maltese citizenship by merit with the Community Malta Agency. The Agency will consider the request while initiating a due diligence process. Afterwards, an evaluation board, which is already present, will consider this request, before giving its recommendation to the Minister. The evaluation board holds the right to interview applicants.
Maltese citizenship that was acquired through the golden passport scheme in the past shall remain, and will continue to be governed under the same regulations under which they acquired it. Hence, the State will not revoke anyone’s attained citizenship through the condemned regime. Any approvals given to a person granted Maltese citizenship through the previous scheme will not be redacted. This does not apply for pending applications.
In addition to addressing the ECJ’s court sentence, these amendments aim to extend the deadline by which adopted children and Maltese descendants may apply for Maltese citizenship.
It was disclosed that any persons adopted from 2020 onwards will acquire Maltese citizenship so as long as they were under the age of 18 years old at the time and timelines are being clarified.
The Maltese government shall be widening its laws to continue offering Maltese diaspora the opportunity to acquire Maltese citizenship, provided that their ancestor and one of their parents were born in Malta.
National laws considered that for a descendant to apply for Maltese citizenship, their ancestors had to be Maltese. Those who died before 1 August 2010 were considered to have become Maltese citizens, even if they passed away after this date – as long as they had submitted their application to become Maltese first. After considering the request of foreign Maltese communities, the date of 1 August 2010 is being extended to 1 August 2028.