Long term residency permit - EU and non-EU citizens

[gozomark]

This has nothing to do with permanent residency permits


Once a non-Maltese EU citizen has been living in Malta for 5 years, they can apply for a long term residency permit. If successful, they then don't need to apply for a residency permit every few years, normally five. Given residency permits only came into being in their current form when Malta joined the EU, I don't think this has been tested yet - I was part of the first batch of people to apply for a residency permit, and mine expires in Feb 2011. There are conditions - the following paragraph is taken from the following thread

An EU citizens legal rights - residency, working, students
http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/ ... hp?t=21120

Permanent Residence

Once the EU national (and his/her family members) has lived in Malta for a continuous period of five years or else as provided for in Regulation 6 of the abovementioned Order, s/he is entitled to apply for confirmation of permanent residence. S/he will have to be living in Malta and be in employment, or self-employment, or as a student or as an economically self-sufficient person throughout the five year period. For residence in Malta to be considered continuous one must not have been absent from Malta for more than six months each year. Longer absences for compulsory military service will not affect such residence. Additionally, a single absence of a maximum of 12 months for important reasons such as pregnancy, child birth, serious illness, study, vocational training or posting overseas, will also not affect the required continuous residence.


Non-EU citizens (3rd country national) can also apply for this, but they have to pass a course on the social, economic, cultural and democratic history and environment of Malta in order to help them integrate in Maltese society. The course must be of at least 100 hours and must be provided by an agency recognised by the government. The applicant must attain a pass mark of at least 75%.

3rd country nationals also have to prove that they and their families have stable and regular resources to maintain themselves without recourse to social assistance and that they have appropriate accommodation.

The regulations also provide that the family members of a person granted long term residence status shall be allowed to accompany the third country national in Malta.

[IWantToBeMaltese]

Very useful mark, that was very informative and helpful.

I am sure every other user will find it useful too.

It should be made a sticky imo.

[dave dee]

Should be no problem with receiving a permanent resident certificate after five years in Malta residence for an E.U. citizen, according to a statement in the relevant information section on the back of my registration certificate.

[dave dee]

What is the point of my last post here? . please disregard.

[gozomark]

I've been issued a permanent residency permit

[Rachy]

I've been issued a permanent residency permit

Congratulations!

I know you say it has nothing to do with PR permits, but sorry to be dim here (why change the habit of a life time) - I understood from previous threads that PR could cause problems and that OR was the best to go for. Does this view change after you have been in Malta for 5 years? Or is this permit something totally different? I can see how it would help in terms of not having to keep re-applying.

Oh dear - I thought I had the residency all wrapped up neatly in my brain cell

[gozomark]

You are (quite understandably) mixing up two things

Permanent Residency (referred to PR on this website) - as defined by the Maltese legal system, with min tax etc etc

Permanent residence permit - as defined by the EU - this is an OR permit with no expiry date - this is what I got, and what this thread is all about

[Rachy]

@Mark

Aaaaah, right I see. Thanks.

[Penury]

I also figured the PR was one & only - now, there is PR classified as permanent residency (OR) for UK/EU citizens - which is good to know

All very confusing - but now as clear as mud

[gozomark]

OR is available for everyone not just EU citizens, but EU citizens (or their dependents) have a legal right to get one, non-EU citizens have to ask, and may wel be turned down, hence why many have to go PR route

OR comes in various categories, and will be either time limited, or not time limited (the permanent one)
self sufficient
work
student

PR (the Maltese version with min tax etc) comes in one type, self sufficient

[dave dee]

Mark, Did your permanent (o.r.) residency come with a long term certificate of health entitlement, i renewed mine as i have anually last month and i asked the girl but she wasn't aware there was such a thing, she told me to make an enquiry at the castille buildings, need i rock the boat ?

[gozomark]

The certificate of health entitlement is a separate issue, and issued by the health dept not citizenship dept. You take your long term residency permit to the health dept and see what they will issue.

[dave dee]

O.K. Thanks for that, got another year to investigate further. Sorry to go off topic.

[gozomark]

OK, more complications

I wasn't issued a Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC), but a lifetime Registration Certificate (which is an undated version of the OR certificate one applies for when first moving to Malta). To get a Permanent Residence Certificate you need to prove you've lived here for the last 5 years, and it seems the authorities are making it very difficult to prove this, hence why my accountant recommended I just renew my OR certificate for another 5 years, and apply for PRC in 5 years time, on the assumption that it would be simpler to apply for then. What confused me was that my new OR certificate had no expiry date.

Whats the difference ? a PRC gives you entitlement to health cover the same as a local, OR doesn't unless you are paying social security contributions - I'm trying to find out what other benefits PRC gives over OR.

[euphony]

For some reason I had it in my head that you couldn't be away for more than 6 weeks in a year not MONTHS over the 5 year period to be eligible for permanent residency
I have been panicking a bit as we were due to go over the '6 week average', what a big banana I am