Opinion: Malta’s Negligent Treatment Of Third Country Nationals Is Appalling – But We Can Stop It
Third Country Nationals in Malta are fighting an uphill battle against the state relying on their labour to function.
One particular struggle is that it is extremely common for TCNs to receive deportation notices – for having “overstayed their visas” – because their employers failed to, or chose not to, register their employment with Jobsplus.
When a TCN decides to change their job, for whatever reason, they apply for that change through Identity Malta.
This triggers a third party check, which sends the application to Jobsplus (among other entities).
If en employer didn’t register a member of staff, and they didn’t register themselves because they had the absolute gall to trust their employer – Jobsplus will declare an applicant an “overstayer”.
Lovin Malta asked Patricia Graham – a citizen campaigner who works alongside TCNs against an unreasonable system which she believes to be highly predatory – what happens next.
“When I ask, ‘what happens now?’ Graham told Lovin Malta, “they’ve said, ‘oh, they’ll be issued a deportation order’”.
“Can you put yourself in that situation? How can you so flippantly say they’ll be issued a deportation order. They’ve got rental contracts, they’ve got internet contracts, they will lose all of these because they can’t work it out within ten days. Ten days to get a new job – or get out. Leave your landlord with a €700 deposit or whatever you paid.”
While rental contracts, internet contracts, and the prospect of securing a new job within ten days are daunting enough – they’re far from the only, or most serious problems faced by TCNs thrust into such a position.
This week, Corazon*, a TCN from south-east Asia – who is eight months pregnant – spoke to Lovin Malta about how her employer failed to register her employment – which led to Identity Malta saying that she has “not been legally residing in Malta” and naming her a “prohibited immigrant”.
“My child lives here, he’s used to it here. He has friends here. If we have to leave and he has to adapt to another place, another school, he has to adapt to being back in my country, all because of my employer’s mistake, that isn’t fair.”
Corazon was hospitalised due to the stress, which can be very dangerous at this point in a pregnancy. Because of her “prohibited immigrant” status, she has not been eligible for free healthcare. You can donate to help her deliver her baby safely here.
An “employer’s mistake” was not the only problem. There appears to be a lack of information sharing between Jobsplus and Identity Malta.
Identity Malta issues residence cards along with work permits, so they know when a TCN is employed. When Jobsplus doesn’t receive a registration for an employee, they should be alerted to the employer’s failure to register that worker, and look into the case.
Doing so could prevent people from continuing to work and live in Malta for months on end, before trying to change their job only to find out that according to Jobsplus, their work has been invalid, they’re overstayers, and they have to leave imminently.
“If Jobsplus do not have that person on record,” Patricia Graham told Lovin Malta “it will reject an application because the company a TCN is working for didn’t register the job.”
“They refuse the application because their last known date of work was a year ago, or 18 months ago, in which case they would be illegally living in Malta.”
“But ID Malta know that they’re not living illegally, because they issued them a work permit and residency card. You couldn’t make this up.”
Graham has been working with dozens of TCNs in this exact position. Last week, she took to social media to tell the story of Joseph* – who’s employer had failed to register him. When he tried to change his job, he was issued a deportation notice.
This is a very common issue. It is a system which – intentionally or incompetently – is built with prejudice against TCNs, despite the fact that the modern Maltese economy would cease to function without their labour.
This system is entrenching the development of an economically and racially stratified society – which is overlooking conditions which many have decried as being equivalent to modern slavery.
Lovin Malta reached out to Jobsplus and Identity Malta to find out more about the degree to which they share information, and what more needs to be done to ensure that the Maltese state does not continue to victimise TCNs, but did not receive any response from either organisation.
Take a quick headcount. Who are your drivers? Who are your servers? Who are your construction crews? Who’s your boss?
“You have these big ideas about building this wonderful monstrosity that we call Malta, where you need all these third country national workers” said Graham.
“But nobody bothered to figure out a plan on how many buildings we need? How many workers do we need? How are we going to cope with these workers coming in? Where are they going to live? It’s a nightmare.”
“Buġibba used to be the place that was cheaper, isn’t it funny that all of a sudden the rent in Buġibba has rocketed, but the rents in places like Hal Far, Marsa, Marsascala, are almost staying stagnant?”
“It’s almost as if they’re being pushed out there. I honestly believe we will end up with ghettos. Where workers are bussed into posh areas to do their cleaning, to do their building, and then get bussed out at night, like the little slaves they are. I see that within a year.”
Two days after her story was told, Corazon told Lovin Malta has been contacted by IM, saying that they would “look into the case again”.
“I have been giving them her details for the last month!” said Patricia Graham.
When they looked into her case, despite having issued a work permit to her employer, which was valid until June of 2023, they sent this response:
“It is with regret that we must inform you that we cannot proceed with your application due to your irregular immigration status.”
So, they issued a work permit valid until June 2023. Then her employer didn’t register her properly with Jobsplus. Jobsplus deemed her an overstayer. Identity Malta ignored their own information and went with Jobsplus’ account.
And Corazon is left without maternity benefits, after being hospitalised within weeks of her due date. This sort of stress could endanger her life, or her child’s life.
Just as the people have sought to put pressure on authorities with regard to our treatment of the environment, the time has come for us to ramp up our efforts to protect people living and working in Malta.
The alternative is accepting that by virtue of not being Europeans, TCNs deserve to be mistreated and exploited.
How do you feel about Malta’s treatment of TCNs?
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