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Working in Malta as a non-EU citizen: the Single Permit, step by step

Your employer applies for the Single Permit, not you. What Identità and Jobsplus check, how long it takes, the fast tracks, the Skills Pass, and what you pay: nothing.

Updated 5 November 2026 · 5 min read

You cannot apply for a Maltese work permit yourself. A Maltese employer applies for you, pays the fee, and waits with you. Your job is to find that employer, pass one online course before you travel, and refuse anyone who asks you for money. The rules were tightened in 2025 and again in 2026. This is how it works today.

What the Single Permit is

One card, two rights: to live in Malta and to work for one named employer. It is issued by Identità, the national identity agency, under the Single Permit Regulations. Most permits are issued for one year. Renewals can be longer where the worker has invested in skills. Maltese, English and the courses have a page of their own.

The permit belongs to the job, not to you. Change employer and the new employer applies again.

Who does what

  • The employer advertises the job in Malta, submits the application online, and pays. First-time permit: €600 since 1 August 2025. Renewal: €150 per year. Change of employer: €600. Health and care roles pay €150.
  • You endorse the application online, provide your documents, and complete the pre-departure course. What to send, in what order is the checklist.
  • Jobsplus, the employment agency, runs the labour-market test and, since late 2025, a suitability check on the employer’s declaration, your qualifications and your course certificate. Getting your qualifications recognised is covered separately.
  • Identità decides. A decision may take up to four months. Jobsplus says the same.

Read the fee line again. The employer pays Identità. If anyone asks you to pay a “permit fee”, an “agent fee” or a “Jobsplus fee”, stop. See the guide on never paying an agent.

The labour-market test

Before applying for a worker who is abroad, the employer must advertise the vacancy in Malta for at least three weeks within the two months before the application. A missing advert makes the application ineligible. Jobs under the fast tracks below need two weeks. Health care, elderly care and disability care are exempt.

Since August 2025 Jobsplus also looks at the employer. Companies that sack too many workers, or dismissed someone unjustifiably in the last twelve months, are blocked from bringing in new non-EU workers. That protects you more than it limits you: a good employer passes.

The pre-departure course

Every third-country national applying for a first Single Permit from abroad must complete the Pre-Departure Course online and pass its assessment. It covers basic English, Maltese society, hygiene and conduct, and your rights at work. It launched on 5 January 2026. Since 1 March 2026 Identità will not consider an application without the certificate.

The course is paid on the official Skills Pass portal. The government press release gives €250 for the test. The portal’s own FAQ gives €245. Check the current figure at tourism.skillspass.org.mt before you pay, and pay only there.

The Skills Pass for hospitality

Working in a hotel, restaurant, bar or any establishment licensed by the Malta Tourism Authority? You also need the Tourism and Hospitality Skills Pass: customer care, the Maltese tourism product, and an online interview. The portal lists the fee at €230 including a €5 booking fee. Accounts, marketing, HR, stores, cleaners and kitchen porters are excluded from the Skills Pass part, not from the pre-departure course.

Employers must check your certificates before they apply. Do the course first, then the application.

Fast tracks

Two routes skip the queue if the salary is high enough.

  • Key Employee Initiative (KEI). Managerial or highly technical posts with a gross annual salary of at least €45,000 and the qualifications or experience to match. Identità’s expected processing time is five working days. First permit €600, valid one year, renewable for up to three.
  • Specialist Employee Initiative (SEI). Gross annual salary of at least €30,000, plus a degree at MQF level 6 in the field, or a lower qualification with three years’ directly related experience. A signed contract with a Maltese company is required. Processing time: fifteen working days. Fee €600.

Both thresholds were raised in August 2025. Check the current figure on the Identità pages before you negotiate.

Timeline, realistically

  1. Find the job and sign a contract: as long as it takes.
  2. Employer advertises: three weeks.
  3. You complete the pre-departure course and, if needed, the Skills Pass: days to a few weeks, depending on how fast you study.
  4. Employer submits, you endorse, employer pays.
  5. Identità and Jobsplus process: up to four months. Five or fifteen working days on the fast tracks.
  6. Approval in principle, then a national (D) visa from the Maltese embassy or visa centre covering your country: Identità gives about eight weeks for the visa.
  7. You travel, give biometrics, and receive an interim receipt, then the card.

Count on four to six months from signing to landing. Anyone who promises “visa in twenty days” is lying. One step with its own page: what the health screening tests and where.

While you wait

  • You may not work for the employer until you hold the interim receipt or the card. Jobsplus states that employing you earlier is illegal, and it is the employer who gets fined.
  • Do not travel to Malta on a tourist visa to “wait there”. Since 2025, applications from people who entered without a work visa are refused.
  • Do not pay for anything except the two official courses.
  • Keep copies of every document you send.

Once you are here

Your salary must be paid by bank transfer into an account in your name. Cash is illegal for non-EU workers hired since 1 October 2025. Open the account in your first weeks; the first-weeks guide tells you how.

If the job ends, you have 30 days to find a new employer and stay legal, extendable by 30 more if you can show you can support yourself. The changing-jobs guide covers that.

Check this at the source

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change. The official sources linked at the end are the final word.

Never pay anyone for a job in Malta. If someone asks for money, it is a scam. No agents →

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