Vistra Residency Services Limited is now a licensed agent approved by Aġenzija Kommunità Malta.
The Malta Permanent Residence Programme (‘MPRP’) officially came into force on 29 March 2021 as per Legal Notice 137 of 2021. The Residency Malta Agency (the ‘Agency’) was also officially set up on that day as per Legal Notice 136 of 2021.
Earlier this year, Malta’s citizenship by investment programme, the Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) came to an end after six years. Despite the programme’s tough stance on due diligence (Malta outranks most other CIPs for its stringent vetting procedures), the Maltese Government decided to scrap the MIIP prematurely and replace it with a new programme which was launched last month.
Following the overhaul and suspension of the citizenship by investment programmes of Malta and Cyprus, respectively, Greece is reviewing its popular residency by investment programme, which has seen a surge of interest in the last few months, with proposed changes including a fee structure aimed at attracting investment to less touristy parts of the country.
With the UK set to leave the EU on December 31, and with no deal looking likely, citizenship firms have witnessed a spike in British HNWIs looking to obtain second passports or residency permits via economic residency or citizenship in order to secure easier access to the EU come 2021, with Malta, Portugal and even the Caribbean in demand.
For the first time, Malta has emerged as the best Citizenship by Programme in Europe, according to the CBI Index 2020. However, with the country’s programme having reached its cap of 1,800 and with its re-launch following new rules and guidelines from October 1, will the new iteration continue its upward trajectory?
Previous criticism of Malta’s citizenship by investment programme has led to the government recently overhauling it, announcing in July that a new CBI programme with new rules is set to launch from September. So what does that mean for advisory firm, Henley & Partners?
For applicants interested in starting the process to secure a second passport for Malta, there is just one month until deadline for residency.