Author
According to the law, persons who are granted refugee status and subsidiary protection in Malta are issued a three years’ residence permit, which is renewable.[1]
Once international protection is granted by the IPA, the beneficiary is issued a residence permit by Identitá, the public agency responsible for matters relating to passports, identity documents, and work and residence permits for expatriates.
Usually, applicants are required to wait for a couple of months for their documentation (see below) to be provided. Although a receipt of their application form for residence is provided, this has no real legal value, resulting in persons being unable to access their basic rights due to a lack of possession of their residence papers.
Residence permit applicants are required to present evidence of their protection status, together with evidence of their current address. This latter requirement is particularly burdensome for protection beneficiaries as it is interpreted as requiring them to present a copy of their rent agreement together with a copy of the identification document of their landlords. In practice, in the majority of cases, Maltese landlords operate through informal agreements and thus refuse to provide either rent agreements or personal documentation due to a fear of imposition of income tax on the income deriving from the rent. The issue of informal agreements (i.e., not registered with the authorities) is not specific to BIPs as legislation requires that all rental agreements be registered with the Housing authorities, but creates an additional burden for BIPs as they have a pressing need to secure an address to receive their residence permit, upon which is dependent access to their rights and these are usually the only solutions available. In 2024, Identitá introduced a requirement whereby rent contracts needed to be attested by legal professionals, thereby creating additional hurdles for protection beneficiaries.
Many protection beneficiaries report strong negative attitudes, comments, and behaviour towards them by public officials receiving and handling their residence permit applications. Many persons are ignored, rebuked, dismissed, or otherwise not handled respectfully.
The renewal of residence permits is automatic upon request.
In 2023, Identitá introduced a ‘credit card only’ payment policy that caused serious problems for protection beneficiaries to apply for and obtain their documentation as most still struggle to open even a basic bank account. Beneficiaries unable to open a bank account were required to rely on friends or, at times, NGOs to effect payment in their name. When raised with Identitá, NGOs were informed that the policy seeks to prevent improved financial management within Identitá yet throughout 2024 the situation remained unchanged.
Identitá confirmed that in 2024 228 first-time residence permits were issued to protection holders.
[1] Regulation 20 of the Procedural Regulations, S.L. 420.07.