How to verify a Maltese employer before you sign anything

A fake offer survives on your not checking. Every check below is free or nearly free, takes minutes, and a scammer cannot pass all five. Do them before you send a passport scan, and long before anyone mentions money. How we source and date these guides is on its own page.

1. Does the company exist?

Every Maltese company has a registration number, usually starting with C followed by digits, and appears in the Malta Business Registry. The registry’s online search is on its portal; since August 2025 you need a free login (Maltese e-ID, an EU eIDAS login, or a non-EU account). Search by name or number.

What you are looking for: the exact name on your contract, the registered address, and that the company is active. A name that is “similar” to a real company is the oldest trick in the file. “Malta Hospitality Ltd” is not “Malta Hospitality Services Ltd”.

Sole traders and small family businesses may not be companies. They still have a VAT number. Ask for it.

2. Does the VAT number check out?

A Maltese VAT number is MT followed by eight digits. Put it into the EU’s VIES validation tool. Valid plus the right company name is good. Invalid, or valid for a different name, is the end of the conversation.

3. Is the email real?

• The sender’s domain must match the company’s own website, not Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or a lookalike like “company-malta-hr.com”.
• Open the website yourself by typing it. Look for a Maltese address and a landline starting with +356 2.
• Call that landline, not the WhatsApp number, and ask for the person who wrote to you.
• A real company’s website rarely says “we are hiring 200 workers from abroad”. Scam pages do.

4. Is the job advertised in Malta?

Since August 2025 an employer must advertise the vacancy in Malta for three weeks before applying for your permit, and vacancies on Jobsplus are posted to the EU-wide EURES portal. Search Jobsplus for the company name. No advert means either the employer has not reached that step, or there is no job. Ask for the link to the advert. A real employer has it to hand because Identità will ask for it too.

5. Talk to a human who works there

Ask for a video call with the manager you would report to, from the premises. Ask what the shift pattern is, where the staff live, who the last person in this role was and why they left. Ask to speak to one current employee from your country. A scammer refuses, stalls, or sends a “colleague” from the same WhatsApp account.

Three more, if anything feels off

• Google the name plus “scam” and the name plus “DIER”. Press reports of unpaid wages and fee-charging surface fast in Malta.
• Ask whether they are an agency or the employer. If an agency, it needs a DIER licence and may not charge you a cent. Ask for the licence number and check it with DIER on 1575.
• Check the salary against the market. A cleaner at €2,500 or a waiter at €3,000 does not exist. The salaries guide has the ranges.

What a pass looks like

Registry entry matches contract. VAT valid. Email from the company domain, landline answered. Advert on Jobsplus. A manager on video, from the kitchen or the office, answering boring questions. Nobody has asked you for money. Then check the contract wording against the contract traps to refuse.

Then, and only then, send documents. The CV, the cover note and the interview are covered in the how-to-apply guide.

What a fail looks like

Any one of: company not found, VAT invalid, Gmail address, no advert, no video call, or a request for money. One is enough. Walk away and report the contact; the never-pay-an-agent guide says where.

Check this at the source

• Malta Business Registry. https://mbr.mt/
• The registry’s notice on public company search. https://www.mbr.mt/post/company-search-and-purchase-of-company-documents-made-public
• EU VAT validation (VIES). https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/
• Jobsplus vacancies. https://jobsplus.gov.mt/
• Identità fact sheet: the three-week advertising rule. https://identita.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Fact-Sheet.pdf
• DIER: agencies may not charge applicants. https://dier.gov.mt/en/faqs/employment-agencies-regulations-and-the-temporary-working-regulations/2/