Residency and citizenship

Traditionally, CBIs were present in some Pacific and Caribbean islands that couldn’t provide much aside from a second trustworthy passport.

“That sounds pretty good to me,”, you may think, and that’s right. However, in 2014, Malta became the first EU member to provide an extensive CBI program. Thus, it was the first country to offer extra benefits in a dynamic investment environment for those who benefit from the program.

Malta’s CBI was an overhaul. Similar programs followed it in Cyprus, another EU member, and Montenegro, which will be an EU member in 2025.

Still, Malta remains the most prestigious program.

Malta is an EU country and received the support of the organization for its program because of its strong due diligence. The program is more expensive than most Caribbean programs, but it offers you secure investments that will actually give you a strong return.

In today’s world, having a second reliable passport is an unmissable opportunity for high net worth individuals and Malta should be at the top of your list. After all, you don’t get the chance to have a EU passport every day.

If we compare it to the other two European programs (Montenegro and Cyprus), we’ll find some of the competitive edges Malta has over them.

First, Montenegro is yet to be a member of the EU. Even as the plans seem to be on track, the acceptance was moved from 2022 to 2025. Also, Montenegro’s program is somewhat new and is limited to 3000 participants during the next three years.

You may also say: but Cyprus is an EU country too! That’s right, but the Cypriot program costs twice as much as the than Malta’s CBI, while Malta offers similar tax benefits for those that apply.

The country offers two programs for investors: the Global Residence Program (residence by investment) and the Individual Investor Program (citizenship by investment). Both programs seek to attract FDI to the island and to support social projects in the country, and have achieved great success in doing so.

Let’s talk about some of the benefits.

A Top-10 passport with complete EU access:

Just as you read. A Maltese passport gives you visa-free travel to 182 countries, which means it is the 10^th best passport in the world. That is way higher than the Russian, Chinese, all Latin American passports, and even most European passports. It’s also the best passport among the CBI countries. You can enjoy visa-free travel to the USA, Canada, Japan, the UK, and the European Union.

Moreover, it allows you to live, work, travel, study, and invest across the EU and Switzerland with complete freedom. That’s the best feature of the passport as it opens terrific financial opportunities for you and your family.

Extensive program:

The programs are not limited to the main applicant.

The residence program also includes: spouse, children under 18, children over 18 if they are financially dependent and not married, parents and grandparents of the main applicant, and parents and grandparents of the main applicant’s spouse, as long as they live with the main applicant and are financially dependent on him.

The citizenship program is almost the same, with the only difference that regarding children, only children under 18 and children between 18 and 26 years old, as long as they are financially dependent and not married, are included.

Tax optimization:

Malta has no wealth taxes, and its system is based on domicile, not citizenship. Hence, those with Maltese citizenship aren’t automatic tax residents, only remittances are taxed, and they don’t have to comply with mandatory asset reporting. Moreover, non-resident citizens are only taxed on their Maltese-sourced income and can reside in any other jurisdiction if they wish to optimize their taxes.

Additionally, Malta has more than 70 double taxation treaties, which gives beneficiaries plenty of opportunities to optimize and plan their taxes. Likewise, the residence program provides a flat 15 % income tax rate for those who are accepted in the program.

After explaining the main benefits of the CBI and RBI programs, let’s get into the specifics. Both programs have similar admissibility criteria:

Now, we can explain the financial requirements of both programs:

The residency program has fewer financial requirements:

·       Buy €250k in government stocks/equities on the Malta stock exchange

·       Rent a property for €10k per year or more, or buy a personal residence of at least €270k

·       Make a €24.5k donation to the National Development and Social Fund of Malta (NDSFM)

·       Hold the property and investments for at least five years

·       Total minimum investment: €324.5k with rented property, €544.5k with purchased property

The citizenship program has more stringent financial requirements:

·       Make a €650k donation to the NDSFM. Plus, there’s an additional €25k per the spouse and child of less than 18 years old and €50k per adult dependent (including children older than 18 years)

·       Buy a property of at least €350k or rent a property for at least €16k per year

·       Acquire €150k in securities

·       The property and the stocks must be kept for five years minimum

·       Total minimum investment: €1150k with purchased property, €880k with rented property

Even if the monetary differences are significant, they are lower than in other CBIs and RBIs. To name one example, Cyprus’ RBI only involves a €300k investment, while the CBI requires a €2m investment.

In Malta, the difference is lower because the programs have different targets. The RBI is directed towards high net worth individuals that want to optimize their taxes in Malta, as it offers a 15 % flat income tax rate for them.

On the other hand, the CBI is directed towards high net worth individuals who want a robust second passport without automatically settling tax residency in that country but allows them to invest and move freely across the EU.

Now, let’s explain the application process.

Application process

First, the residency program. It has five main steps:

1)    Making and submitting your application: Our experts will conduct a background check to see if you are eligible for the program of your choice and gather all the necessary documents for the application. It contains paying legal fees (€30k) and submitting the application to begin the process formally.

2) Due diligence: The authorities will conduct their own background check on the main applicant, his or her spouse, and dependents. It requires a €5.5k payment to start the due diligence.

3)   Decision on the application: In this step, the Maltese authorities will tell the applicant their decision regarding his application. Only after this, the investor will finally make the €24.5k contribution, purchase the bonds, and rent/purchase the property. That means that most of the expenses are only done if the decision is positive

4)    Biometric data: Only in this step the applicant must travel to Malta, as he has to be present to submit his biometric data

5)    Obtaining the residency card: Finally, the government issues the residence card, which is valid for five years.

The citizenship program has a more intricate process. In an ideal scenario, it takes 12 months as the applicant has to prove he’s resided in Malta for the past year. Nonetheless, in some cases, the process can take two years up to 24 months.

These are the steps:

1)  Our Discuss Holdings experts conduct an initial background check to guarantee the applicant is suitable and has all the necessary documents.

2)  The investor must fill the application forms and gather all the necessary documentation our experts ask him for. Also, Identity Malta starts due diligence over the main applicant and his family.

3)    Our experts send the application to Identity Malta with the due diligence fees.

4)    Identity Malta responds. If it’s a favorable response, Identity Malta will issue a Letter of Approval in Principle. Identity Malta has the responsibility to respond in 120 days after the application was received.

5)    When the Letter arrives, the client has 25 days to pay the non-refundable donation to the Maltese government, and 2ithin four months of the arrival, the client must show to Identity Malta he has conducted the real estate purchase or lease, and the purchase of securities.

6)    After this, the applicant and his family must travel to Malta -if they are not there- to take the Oath of Allegiance and give the biometric data.

7)    The applicant and all his dependents will receive their naturalization card and can submit a simple passport application to get it.

Who we are

With NTL, in Mundo, we have 25 years aiding high net worth individuals to get second passports. In today’s world, where governments curtail individual freedoms, this is more a necessity than an option to secure your investments and conduct your business freely.

Since 1994, we’ve assembled an unmatched network of experts to provide the best services for you. We work in Malta with Discus Holdings, which is one of the top RBI and CBI providers in Malta, where they have their main headquarters.

They offer full transparency, which means there are no small letter clauses and no hidden fees. They give you complete support before, during, and after your application process with a 100 % success rate as of today.

What are you waiting for? Contact us right now to get you in touch with our experts!