Malta Scraps ‘Golden Passport’ Scheme And Extends Citizenship-By-Merit

Malta will completely scrap its “golden passport” scheme and expand its existing citizenship-by-merit system.

The government’s decision comes after the European Court of Justice ruled last April that the scheme, which has been in place since 2014, violated EU law in terms of its commercialisation of EU member state nationality.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri confirmed that the transactional element of the citizenship acquisition process, as well as the role played by agents, is being completely eliminated.

Meanwhile, the citizenship-by-merit scheme, which has been in place since 2017 for people deemed to be providing an “exceptional” contribution to Malta, will be expanded.

The updated scheme will allow “philanthropists and technologists” to qualify for citizenship-by-merit, while job creation will be listed as a potential example of exceptional contribution.

Any Maltese citizenship acquired under the now-scrapped scheme remains valid, but pending applications will not be processed.