Malta offers exceptional citizenship by investment

Malta citizenship gives visa-free travel to over 180 countries visa-free, including the USA and Canada, as well as the right of settlement in all 26 EU countries. Primary applicants can include their spouse, children, parents and grandparents within their application. The country has a long history of attracting foreign direct investment and has attracted clients from all over the globe, including from the Middle East, Asia, and USA.

This year, as a fully licensed Malta agent, Latitude Group’s Malta office has officially had the first applicants receive Maltese citizenship approvals under the newly established Maltese Exceptional Investor Naturalization (MEIN). These first applicants and their families, originally from the Middle East, started their MEIN journey in December 2020 and took just under 18 months to receive their citizenship approvals.

Ryan Darmanin, Managing Director of Latitude Consultancy Malta, comments: “We are thrilled to see these two families receive their approvals after completing their 12 months of residency under the new MEIN. It is an honour to be the first licenced advisory firm to welcome MEIN approved applicants to Malta and I am very proud of my team and the Government Agency for this milestone.

“Our client relationship manager, Rebecca Vella, and our processing manager Olessia Strashnova, together with the rest of our dedicated team have unmatched knowledge and experience with Malta’s citizenship regulations, and this gives the team the ability to replicate the success we had under the former Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) with the MEIN.

“We are already experiencing increasing demand, but we anticipate many more applicants and approvals in the future as global demand continues to be strong.”

The comprehensive application process, which starts with getting residence in Malta, offers two pathways to attain citizenship. The lower capital outlay route takes three years of residency with a contribution of €600,000 ($598,434), while the second route takes a minimum of one year of residency with a contribution of €750,000 ($748,335).

Both options require an additional contribution for dependents of €50,000 ($49,889) each and applicants must either rent or purchase property in Malta. Now that the Euro is currently on par with the US dollar, foreign investors and their families that have currencies pegged to the US dollar have an unprecedented cost savings opportunity to invest in Malta citizenship.

Alternatively, for clients seeking residence at with the lowest capital outlay in Europe, the Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP), often referred to as the “Malta Golden Visa”, has a capital outlay as low as €125,000 ($124,722) granting permanent residence within six months of submission and visa-free travel within the European Schengen Area.

This is best option for investors looking to relocate to a safe, English-speaking EU country, especially with the recent announcement by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that the Greek Golden Visa Programme minimum investment amount is set to double from €250,000 to €500,000.

About Latitude Group

Latitude Group and its subsidiaries, including RIF Trust in the Middle East and Africa, is a leading international residency and citizenship advisory firm. The company was born from the need to provide greater freedom to travel and expand businesses abroad for high-net-worth individuals and their families.

In 2018, RIF Trust merged with Latitude Consultancy Limited to expand internationally to over 20 countries, including Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, KSA, South Korea, UAE, UK, and USA.

Latitude Group is licenced in Malta by the Government’s Community Malta Agency (CMA License: AKM-LATI-22).

For the next steps on how you or one of your clients can work with us to become a citizen of Malta, please email [email protected] or call +356 2260 5174 or contact us at www.latitudeworld.com