Malta has suspended its citizenship-for-sale scheme for applicants from Russia and Belarus.

Saying that the proper “due diligence checks cannot be carried out effectively in the current scenario,” the Community Malta Agency and Residency Malta Agency have suspended, until further notice, the processing of applications from nationals of the Russian Federation and Belarus.

“Notwithstanding the fact that no beneficiaries of any citizenship or residence status are on the EU Sanctions List, renewals of status of beneficiaries will be processed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the existing standard procedures. These entail fresh compliance checks to ensure beneficiaries continue to remain eligible,” they said.

The decision comes after days of calls for the scheme to be suspended in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Authorities noted that after a number of checks, they found that no one who had benefitted from the Maltese scheme was currently on the EU Sanctions List.

“Similarly, no applications from individuals on the EU Sanctions List are currently in process. The ongoing due diligence process ensures flagging of individuals who feature on sanctions lists from time to time. In such cases, the agencies shall apply all the processes provided by law to revoke any status granted to them.”