Malta’s Economy ‘Losing Millions’ Due To Visa Processing Breakdown Leaving Businesses Without Staff
Businesses in Malta are facing a huge human rescue crisis as a result of a persistent gridlock in the visa processing system.
The Malta Chamber of SMEs, one of the country’s major business lobby groups, warned it has been sounding the alarm to the government for months but no action has been taken to alleviate the situation.
Consequently, the private sector is facing a huge human resource crisis, with new employees blocked from coming to Malta even after Identity Malta would have issued them with a work permit.
“The pressures businesses are facing in terms of human resources is now unprecedented,” the Chamber said, quoting a recent internal study that ranked the human resources problem on par with inflationary pressures.
“Malta is facing a very serious problem. The estimated cost on business and the economy as a whole runs up to several millions.”
The Chamber said the main fault in the system lies in the processing of visas at Malta’s High Commission Office in India, which handles visa applications from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
“[These countries] are exceptionally important sources of personnel in the current circumstances and these are all in a state of deadlock at present,” the Chamber warned.
Malta's High Commission in India has been blamed for this gridlock
“Businesses have lost complete trust in the, contracted, appointment management system which is plagued by abuse from the numerous reports received regularly by businesses and visa applicants alike.”
Lovin Malta is informed that the visa processing problem is widespread, not only in India but also in the Maltese consulate in the UAE, which processes visa applications from Pakistani nationals.
Visas are taken several months to process, even when applicants pay more for them to be fast-tracked, and are often being rejected for spurious reasons.
For example, this applicant was told his visa application was rejected because he hadn’t provided justification for his stay in Malta… even though he had sent the UAE consulate his job contract with his new Maltese employer.
Some have even waited so long for their visas to be processed that the 180-day deadline to acquire a visa that Identity Malta gave them after approving their work permit expired.
This gridlock is causing human resource pressures across the board, from retail to restaurants and hotels, with some staff forced to work overtime or take shorter breaks.
Meanwhile, the pool of available Maltese workers is extremely limited, with the number of people registering for work retell recently dropping to a historic low of 963.
Also, not enough EU workers – who don’t need to go through the visa application process – are being attracted to the jobs that are crying out for staff. Malta’s extremely high rent prices and relatively low salaries have often been cited as a reason.
The Malta Chamber of SMEs warned the visa processing system is “archaic, lacks transparency and falls short, by far, of sufficient resources to handle the pressures required”.
Abigail Mamo, CEO of the Malta Chamber of SMEs
“This part of the process in applying for a work or study visa has paralysed the whole system,” they said. “The SME Chamber appreciates that the challenges contributing to this process are not small. We are however also certain that the main problem is that these challenges were already very well-known but have been shoved under the carpet for far too long.”
“The situation is now not only not being managed but is out of control. This crisis needs drastic intervention.”
“If one had to use the analogy of a patient, we cannot just treat a patient in critical condition and requiring immediate surgical intervention with a diet. The time to treat the patient with a diet is long past and the patient is now dying.”
“The SME Chamber calls on the authorities to immediately deploy the resources necessary to shorten the processing time.”
“The SME Chamber emphasises that it is in no way calling for any lax approaches or doing away with the necessary checks, but an immediate realisation that the system has broken down and unless we act efficiently and quickly our economy, which is trying to recuperate after two hard years, will continue to be dealt blows with every week of inaction.”
Have you been impacted by this gridlock in visa processing? Feel free to reach out on [email protected]
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