Coming to Malta from Sri Lanka: the new VFS centre, the SLBFE, the jobs

Sri Lankans work in Malta’s hotels, restaurants, care homes, households and shops, and the route here got easier at the end of 2025 when a Malta visa centre reportedly opened in Colombo. The Maltese rules are the same as for everyone: the employer applies and pays, and nobody may charge you.

Where the visa comes from

Malta has no embassy in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan press reported that VFS Global launched a Malta visa application centre in Colombo in December 2025; VFS’s own Malta one-pager for Sri Lanka was not reachable when we checked. Confirm the centre on VFS Global’s Malta pages before you travel to Colombo. Without a centre, Identità’s premium courier process applies: €300 all-in, six to eight weeks. The Bangladesh page covers the same courier process for Bangladeshi passports.

Before you leave Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment registers workers going abroad and licenses agencies; in 2024 its special unit arrested a woman over a Malta job scam. Check the SLBFE’s current rules for Malta and whether your agency is licensed. On the Maltese side, no agency may charge you. The Nepal page covers the same check for Nepali passports.

The jobs Sri Lankans take here

Hotel housekeeping and front desk, waiting and kitchen staff, carers in homes for the elderly and in households, cleaners, shop assistants, drivers. Hospitality roles need the Tourism and Hospitality Skills Pass. Carers and nannies have extra vaccination requirements in the health screening. The whole journey on one page puts the Skills Pass and the screening in order, from job offer to residence card.

The health screening

If Sri Lanka is on Malta’s current high-risk tuberculosis list, a chest X-ray in Malta within six weeks of the application is required. All tests happen in Malta. Carers, nannies and food handlers are screened whatever the country.

Life here

Sri Lankan communities are spread through the central and harbour towns. Buddhist and Hindu places of worship exist in small form; ask in the community. English is the language of work; Sinhala and Tamil are heard in kitchens and care homes.

The scam

A Malta job sold in Sri Lanka for a fee is a job that does not exist or an employer who will take the fee back from your wages. Both are illegal in Malta. The never-pay-an-agent guide has the red flags; the verify-an-employer guide shows how to check the company in an hour.

The money

The minimum wage is €229.44 a week in 2026, about €994 a month, and many first jobs pay near it. A room costs €450 to €700 a month. Run your own numbers in the salaries guide before you accept. A salary far above the ranges there is a red flag, not a prize.

What never happens

Nobody in Malta charges you for a job. Agencies here are licensed by DIER and commit an offence if they take money from an applicant. Employers may not take money from workers for recruitment. The permit fee is the employer’s. You pay the two official courses, your visa, your health tests and your flight, and nothing else.

Check this at the source

• Identità, long-stay visa policy: where and how to apply, premium process €300, 6 to 8 weeks. https://identita.gov.mt/central-visa-unit-national-visa-long-stay-visa/
• Missions of Malta: embassies and high commissions. https://missions.foreign.gov.mt/embassies/ and https://missions.foreign.gov.mt/high-commissions/
• Identità, working and residing in Malta. https://identita.gov.mt/working-residing-in-malta/
• DIER: agencies may not charge applicants. https://dier.gov.mt/en/faqs/employment-agencies-regulations-and-the-temporary-working-regulations/2/
• Daily FT, December 2025: VFS Global launches Malta visa centre in Sri Lanka. https://www.ft.lk/travel-tourism/VFS-Global-launches-Malta-visa-application-centre-in-Sri-Lanka/27-785700