Care is the one sector where Malta's 2025 policy made recruitment easier rather than harder: no advert, €150 instead of €600, and a workforce the Philippines has supplied to the world for decades. The Department of Migrant Workers says Filipino nurses and care workers are in demand in Malta and that the two governments are exploring a dedicated channel. Until one exists, the licensed-agency route works — and for care it works fast.
Identità's fact sheet lists jobs in the health sector and in the care of persons with disabilities or the elderly among the categories fully exempt from the vacancy requirement, and sets all residence-permit fees for these roles at €150. A care home does not advertise for three weeks on Jobsplus and EURES, does not pay €600 per worker, and files as soon as the worker's Pre-Departure Course certificate and documents are ready. The termination thresholds and the Workforce Application Limit still apply, and in care they are rarely the constraint: Filipino carers stay.
The Philippines trains caregivers to a national standard — the TESDA Caregiving NC II — and exports them to Japan, Israel, the Gulf and Europe. For Malta we select against your care model: residential elderly care, dementia units, disability services or home care; moving and handling, personal care, medication support under supervision, documentation in English. Selection is practical and includes a care scenario; references from previous care employers are verified. Carers arrive with the Pre-Departure Course completed and, where you require it, a first-aid certificate.
Nurses need two things in sequence: registration with Malta's Council for Nurses and Midwives — on the Philippine bachelor's degree, PRC licence and English — and the permit. Nursing is ISCO group 2, so a nurse contract at €30,000 gross or more qualifies for the Specialist Employee Initiative and a decision within 15 working days; below that line the standard Single Permit applies, still without an advert and still at €150. We start the registration file at selection so that it is in place when the permit is filed. In April 2025 the DMW named nurses and care workers as the Filipino professions in demand in Malta and said Malta was exploring a government-to-government hiring programme for care workers; no such programme has replaced the licensed-agency route.
Two to four months from brief to arrival for carers; nurses depend on the registration timeline.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office in Rome, which serves Malta from the Philippine Embassy in Italy, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. Recruitment follows the employer-pays principle: no applicant pays for an interview, a trade test or a place on a shortlist. Your company is the employer from day one; we never employ or lease the workers.
Everything here is subject to Subsidiary Legislation 217.17, the Malta Labour Migration Policy as implemented by Identità and Jobsplus, Maltese employment law and Philippine DMW rules.
The exemption attaches to the role — care of elderly or disabled persons and health-sector jobs — as described in the contract and verified by Jobsplus and Identità. Care providers and homes qualify; the end employer must be the one on the contract.
No. The Skills Pass is a tourism and hospitality requirement. Carers complete Identità's Pre-Departure Course like every first-time applicant.
Only if the contract, the pay and the duties are those of a care worker and the worker agrees; the permit is issued for the role on the contract. Many providers hire a nurse as a senior carer and upgrade the designation after registration — a change of designation costs €150 in care.
Not yet. The DMW said in 2025 that Malta was exploring a bilateral labour agreement and a government-to-government programme for care workers. Until one is signed and operating, recruitment for Malta runs through DMW-licensed agencies.
Physiotherapists and other registered professions follow the same pattern as nurses: registration with the Council for the Professions Complementary to Medicine first, then the permit — SEI where the pay is at or above €30,000.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.