Maltese tourism runs on third-country staff, and Filipinos are the workforce hoteliers ask for by name: English-speaking, trained in service, used to international guests. The 2025–2026 rules did not close that channel; they priced it and conditioned it on retention. A hotel that recruits a tested crew for the whole season, puts them through the Skills Pass before the file is submitted and houses them properly now has a structural advantage over one that churns.
Line cooks and chefs de partie from hotel and cruise-line kitchens; commis and kitchen staff; waiters, bartenders and baristas with international hotel experience; housekeeping attendants and floor supervisors; receptionists and night auditors; porters and stewards. Philippine hospitality schooling is in English and the industry is export-oriented — the cruise lines, the Gulf and Asia's resort chains have trained a generation of staff to European standards. Selection in Makati is practical: a cook cooks, a waiter serves a table, a housekeeper makes up a room to the standard sheet you give us.
Every third-country national who will work in tourism and hospitality needs the Pre-Departure Course certificate and the Skills Pass before the employer can file the Single Permit. Part 1 — the Identità course — is two online modules and a 20-minute interview; Part 2 — the Skills Pass of the Institute of Tourism Studies — is Customer Care, the Maltese Tourism Product and a Skills Assessment, then an online interview booked at ITS or the nearest VFS centre. Together they take four to six weeks when started on the day of selection; we register workers that day. Roles outside the Skills Pass since 5 January 2026 — accounts, marketing, HR, stores, cleaners, kitchen porters — need the Pre-Departure Course only.
A Skills Pass holder renewing after a first year without objections may receive a two-year permit; a three-year permit is possible where the qualification level improves. For an operator that keeps its staff, the paperwork halves from the second year.
The termination thresholds are the rule hospitality must plan around: new applications are refused when the termination rate of third-country staff is above 50 % (small), 45 % (medium) or 40 % (large) from 1 July 2026. A seasonal operator that recruits in March and releases in November will meet the line unless the contracts and the planning reflect it. Three approaches work: year-round contracts with rostered low-season hours for the core team; recruitment for the full season with contract lengths that match it; and groups of properties recruiting together so staff move within the group rather than out of it. We model the round against your Jobsplus figures before we start.
Two employer-level tests run in the background of every application. The termination-rate threshold refuses new applications from employers whose third-country staff leave too often: from 1 July 2026 the refusal line is 50 % for small employers (10–49 staff), 45 % for medium (50–249) and 40 % for large (250+), after stepping down from 65/60/55 % in October 2025; micro employers are exempt and the test applies from the third year of operation. The Workforce Application Limit caps annual headcount growth through third-country recruitment at 200 % for micro, 100 % for small, 50 % for medium and 25 % for large employers, assessed monthly against the same month a year earlier, groups of companies counted together.
Three to five months from brief to arrival is realistic; managers and chefs de cuisine at €30,000 and above travel faster under SEI.
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.
Yes — the Single Permit and the certificates are national. Housing on Gozo is part of the file like anywhere else.
No. Since 5 January 2026 kitchen porters, cleaners, accounts, marketing, HR and stores roles are excluded from the Skills Pass. They still need the Pre-Departure Course certificate.
Not for the standard Single Permit; the file carries qualifications or reference letters and the Skills Pass covers the sector competence. For a chef de cuisine hired under SEI at €30,000 or more, the MQF 6 qualification or three years' documented experience applies.
One advert per role type on Jobsplus and EURES, placed within the two months before filing, with the reasons any local applicants were unsuitable recorded. It runs while we recruit in Manila.
The job they were briefed on: the hours, the pay in euro, the housing, the return flight. Filipino hospitality staff stay where the briefing and the reality match — and in Malta that is now what keeps your threshold down.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.