Identity Malta has denied discriminating against or mistreating foreign workers and has pledged to facilitate the process for the acquisition of a work permit.

The agency was responding to a letter by a third country national, published by Lovin Malta, which complained that the process of acquiring a work permit is so “gruelling and dehumanising” that it actually repels foreign workers from the island.

Several foreign workers voiced their agreement with the letter, although other commenters accused them of demanding too much from a government agency.

“Identity Malta denies the comments on Lovin Malta’s Facebook page that it discriminates or mistreats foreigners,” a spokesperson told this website. “On the contrary, Identity Malta has not only safeguarded the well-being of foreign workers but it has referred a number of work abuse cases to the respective authorities.”

It also denied that it takes too long to process and issue work permits, arguing the current average processing time of six to eight weeks falls well within the four month maximum timeframe stipulated by EU law.

These are the changes that Identity Malta says it has introduced or has promised to introduced in the near future to make life easier for third country national workers.

• It has employed more people as in the human resources and customer care departments so as to cater for increased labour market demands.
• It is actively seeking to relocate the Expatriates Unit from Evans Building in Valletta to more suitable premises.
• It will launch a new online platform for still-abroad applicants to allow them to submit their work permit application, along with all the mandatory documents, before they catch a plane to Malta.
• It has offered an on-site individualised service to employers recruiting foreign workers in numbers.
• It runs the Key Employee Initiative scheme whereby the applications of employees who earn over €30,000 a year get processed within five days.
• It has introduced specific checklists for different labour market sectors (eg. Health sector, catering sector, home-based care sector etc.)
• It coordinates a Vacancy Exemption list with employment agency Jobsplus so that applicants for highly-demanded posts which locals aren’t taking up will be exempted from the usual labour-market testing process.
• It has extended its services to Victoria, Gozo
• It recently introduced the Temporary Authorization to Work permit, whereby still-abroad applicants who have successfully finalized their application will be authorized to work during the time it takes to issue the actual single work permit.

Photo: Identity Malta

“Identity Malta can vouch that regardless of the stressful environment that employees work in, they strive to give their best,” the spokesperson said. “Nonetheless, Identity Malta takes customer complaints seriously and if there are any problems or queries in the near future, one should not hesitate to voice their concerns by contacting its customer care team on (+356) 2590 4000 (from Monday to Friday between 07:15 to 16:00) or via email [email protected], who will see to the matter but cannot promise any chocolate truffles in return.”

Have you applied or know someone who has applied for a work permit in Malta? How was the experience like?

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]