Author
Asylum applicants are free to move and reside in any part of the country. All persons living in an open centre are required to regularly confirm residence through signing in three times per week. These signing procedures also confirm eligibility for the per diem (see Forms and Levels of Material Reception Conditions) and to ensure the continued right to reside in the centre. Residents who are employed, and who, therefore, might be unable to sign three times a week, are not given the per diem for as long as they fail to sign.
The only restriction on freedom of movement envisaged in the law relate to public health risks, whereby the Superintendent for Public Health may issue an order restricting the free movement of any person. Since 2019, this was the basis for Malta’s health-based detention, a practice denounced by the ECtHR in A.D. v. Malta. Possibly in response to this judgement and/or in preparation of the EU Pact implementation, in 2025 the relevant provision of the Prevention of Disease Ordinance was deleted and Malta adopted the Order for Restriction of Movement (Public Health) Regulations.[1] These Regulations empower the Superintendent of Public Health to issue a Restriction of Movement Order on anyone they suspect may spread a disease, lasting for a period not longer than four weeks yet extendable to a continuous period of 12 weeks. The aim of this Order is to finalise “diagnostic tests”. The Order should be issued in Maltese or English as also a language the person is reasonably expected to understand.
Practitioners noted that in 2025 a small number of applicants had their free movement restricted on health grounds. These were returned to Malta via the Dublin Regulation and held at the Ħal Far Initial Reception Centre until medically cleared.
Malta does not operate any dispersal scheme, since residence in open centres remains voluntary. Nonetheless, placement in a particular open centre generally implies a limited possibility to change centre, although such decisions could be taken on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, legislation foresees that transfers of applicants from one accommodation facility to another shall take place only when necessary, and applicants shall be provided with the possibility of informing their legal advisers of the transfer and of their new address.[2] Beyond individual situations, movement between centres is sometimes affected by space considerations. Asylum applicants might be moved from one centre to another in order to maintain security and order within particular centres.
[1] Legal Notice 183 of 2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/mpjnzbxv.
[2] Regulation 13, Reception Regulations.