Author
National forms of protection
THP is a form of national protection regulated by Article 17A of the International Protection Act and awarded to applicants for international protection who does not qualify for refugee status or subsidiary protection status, but who is deemed to qualify for protection on humanitarian grounds. The law lists several categories of persons eligible for such status: an unaccompanied minor who cannot return to his country of origin pursuant to the principle of the best interest of the child; a terminally ill applicant or one who suffers from a severe or life-threatening medical condition not treatable in his country of origin; and an applicant who cannot be returned for other humanitarian reasons which can include serious disability affecting the applicant’s normal life.
Rejected applicants can apply to THP within a separated procedure at any time[1] and their status will be considered as rejected asylum-applicants until a decision is issued.
An interview is generally not carried out in relation to THP when the request for THP is filed by a rejected asylum applicant.
The law provides that no appeal can be filed against a decision of the IPA not to grant THP.[2]
All UAMs whose asylum applications have been rejected are automatically granted Temporary Humanitarian Protection until they reach the age of eighteen, at which point their asylum decision is revived.
The status of Temporary Humanitarian Protection (THP) may be revoked, ended or not renewed whenever the conditions under which it was granted no longer subsist, if after being granted temporary humanitarian protection, the beneficiary should have been or is excluded from being eligible or if the beneficiary did not originally meet the eligibility criteria.[3] The provisions applicable to the withdrawal of subsidiary protection apply mutatis mutandis to the for beneficiaries of THP (see Withdrawal of protection status). IPA stated that in 2024, 12 THP statuses were withdrawn (including lapsed decisions).
Recent law changes stipulate that THP holders should have access to non-contributory benefits similarly to beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.
Beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and THP have access to state medical services too, according to national legislation and guidelines provided by the Healthcare Entitlement Unit[4]. Furthermore, NGOs report that all third-country nationals are entitled to full access to public health services if they are able to present at least three most recent payslips to the hospital payment desk.
Temporary Humanitarian Protection are issued an Alien’s Passport as travel document.
Return procedure
Return decisions are not issued jointly with the asylum rejection. Once an application is finally rejected, either by the IPAT or following the expiration of the appeal possibility, the PIO is informed and return procedures are initiated. Rejected applicants are required to present themselves to the PIO in order to obtain documentation confirming their status as rejected applicants, as the IPAT or IPA would terminate the person’s ASD.
According to the PIO, data on the number of return decisions issued following negative IPA decisions is not possible to provide, but it was also confirmed that in 2024 82 return decisions were issued by the PIO to persons who had entered Malta irregularly by sea.
Furthermore, the PIO also confirmed that in 2024 there were a total of 23 return decisions issued that were not implemented: 21 relating to persons pending repatriation and 2 to persons released from detention.
[1] Article 17A (1) of the International Protection Act, Chapter 420.
[2] Ibidem.
[3] Article 17A(2) of the International Protection Act, Chapter 420 .
[4] Regulation 20 Procedural Regulations, S.L. 420.07 ; Entitlement Unit Malta, available at: https://bit.ly/4eaeDeD. The guidelines are available here: https://tinyurl.com/4dsr6n3j.