Individuals can register childbirth and marriage at the Public Registry office. A child must be registered within 15 days following their birth. The person transmitting such notice has to present his or her identity card, and any documentation provided to him or her by the hospital. NGOs reported that Identitá, the documentation Agency, makes efforts to contact parents of newly-born babies to ensure their registration and that a registration office has been opened at the hospital.
Registration of births does not record the baby’s or the parents’ nationalities, giving rise to potential unresolved questions of statelessness.
The Marriage Registry, within the Public Registry office, receives requests for the Publication of Banns for marriages and civil unions taking place in Malta. Applications for the publication of Banns are received between three months and six weeks prior to the date of marriage or civil union. The Banns are published five to four weeks prior to the date of marriage or civil union.
Beneficiaries of international protection are also requested to inform the IPA about changes in their marital or parental situation. Applicants are not permitted to marry. Refugees are generally exempted from producing documents from their countries of origin, yet this unwritten policy is not comprehensively adhered to.
NGOs report that registration of all civic status changes is largely unproblematic, yet some challenges do remain. At times, clerks or front-office personnel at Identitá are not aware of the particular status of international protection beneficiaries requiring documentation from countries of origin. Complicated situations occur when there is a conflict between a person’s declarations about their civic status provided at disembarkation and at any later stage.
NGOs observe that the authorities hold a person’s first declarations as official, often provided right after an arduous sea voyage and in most cases without interpreters, cultural mediators or other forms of information and support. Whereas requests for minor changes, such as spelling, can be acceded to either directly by IPA or following a data protection complaint, changes in civic status generally require documentary evidence.