Malta's Labour Migration Policy: what changed for employers from August 2025 to July 2026 — advertising, fees, termination thresholds, workforce limits

Why the policy exists

Malta's workforce grew faster than any other in the EU on the back of third-country labour, and the churn that came with it — short stays, serial changes of employer, agencies placing workers they did not really employ — is what the policy targets. The instruments are employer-side: evidence that the local market was tried, a price on each application, a refusal line for employers whose third-country staff keep leaving, a cap on how fast a company may grow through third-country hires, and an obligation to prepare the worker before departure.

None of it is aimed at the Philippines, and most of it rewards exactly what a well-run Filipino recruitment already does: a tested selection, a real contract, decent housing, workers who stay.

Phase one — 1 August 2025

• Vacancy requirement: one advert for at least three weeks within the two months before a complete first-time application; two weeks for KEI, SEI, EU Blue Card and Skilled Occupation List roles; health, elderly and disability care, student placements, sportspersons and regulator-endorsed cases exempt.
• Fees: €600 for a first single permit (from €300), €150 per renewal year, €600 for a change of employer, €300 for a change of designation; €150 across the board for health and care roles.
• Redundancy rule: no application for a post, or a similar one, where the employer made anyone redundant in the previous twelve months, whatever their nationality.
• Engagement and termination forms within four working days; late filing suspends new applications until corrected.
• Grace period: a worker whose employment ends may stay 30 days to find new work, extendable to 60 on proof of means.
• Applications from people in Malta on non-work visas are rejected.
• KEI threshold €45,000, SEI threshold €30,000.

Phase two — 1 October 2025 and the quarterly steps

• The advert must be on the Jobsplus portal and EURES (Jobsplus Employment Licences Unit guidelines, August 2025); Jobsplus assesses the reasons for rejecting Maltese, EEA and Swiss applicants.
• Salaries of third-country nationals registered from 1 August 2025 must be paid electronically through a licensed financial institution; cash does not count towards the contract.
• Visa-exempt nationals who apply within 60 days of entering Schengen may wait in Malta; between day 61 and 90 the application is decided from outside. Philippine nationals need a visa and apply from abroad in any case.
• Termination-rate thresholds: new applications refused above 65 % (small, 10–49 staff), 60 % (medium, 50–249) and 55 % (large, 250+) from 1 October 2025; 60/55/50 % from 1 January 2026; 55/50/45 % from 1 April 2026; 50/45/40 % from 1 July 2026. Micro employers are exempt; the test applies from the third year of operation.
• Workforce Application Limit: growth through third-country recruitment capped at 200 % (micro), 100 % (small), 50 % (medium) and 25 % (large) of the headcount twelve months earlier, assessed every month; groups assessed together.
• Renewal periods reviewed: three years for KEI, SEI, Skilled Occupation List and Blue Card permits; two years for ISCO 1–4 roles; ISCO 5–9 after completion of training.

2026 — preparation before departure

Identità's Pre-Departure Course portal opened on 5 January 2026 and the certificate has been verified in every first-time Single Permit application since 1 March 2026: two online modules on living and working in Malta and on workplace rights and obligations, a 20-minute live interview in English, €250, 42 days to complete. In tourism and hospitality the sector part of the same system is the Skills Pass, obligatory for third-country nationals since 2024 and extended to Maltese and EU nationals from 1 January 2027.

Construction is next: the Building and Construction Authority has told the professions it intends a skill card as a condition of entering a site from January 2027; the regulations were still being drafted in July 2026.

What it means when you plan a Filipino round

• Size the round against your Workforce Application Limit and check your termination rate first — both are arithmetic, and both can stop a file that is otherwise perfect.
• Budget €600 per worker for the permit, €250 for the Pre-Departure Course and €230 for the Skills Pass where it applies, plus the visa and the Philippine documentation; the employer-pays principle means none of it is charged to the worker.
• Run the advert, the Manila selection and the course in parallel; the calendar is set by Identità's decision and the visa, not by the advert.
• Keep the workers: thresholds make retention a licence to recruit. Housing, honest briefings and a selection by trade test are the policy's intended behaviour.

The Philippine side

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.

Frequently asked questions

• Where are the measures published?

  In Identità's Labour Migration Policy fact sheet (July 2025) and notice of 1 October 2025, Jobsplus's implementation document (July 2025) and Employment Licences Unit guidelines (August 2025), and the amendments to Subsidiary Legislation 217.17. The sources are linked on this page.

• Do the termination thresholds count resignations?

  The threshold is a termination rate of third-country staff over the period, whatever the reason the employment ended. Employers with many late or backdated terminations also face restrictions. A worker who leaves after three months counts the same as one you dismiss.

• We are a new company. Do the thresholds apply?

  The termination threshold and the Workforce Application Limit apply from an employer's third year of operation; the other rules — advert, fees, forms, disability quota — apply from the first application.

• Is there a quota for Filipino workers in Malta?

  No national quota by nationality. The limits are per employer: the Workforce Application Limit by company size and the termination threshold. Jobsplus may also restrict recruitment in a sector where it finds local supply or saturation.

• Has the Skilled Occupation List been published?

  The policy announced about a hundred occupations on a Skilled Occupation List that earn the two-week advert and three-year renewals. Identità and Jobsplus refer to it as an eligibility category; we check whether a role is on the current list before filing and do not assume it.