Malta's Single Permit is one application for work and residence, decided by Identità with Jobsplus checking the labour market. Since August 2025 the process has new fixed points — a three-week advert, a €600 fee, employer thresholds, a mandatory pre-departure course — and a clear sequence for workers who are still abroad. This page is that sequence from brief to first working day, with the Philippine steps running in parallel.
The vacancy requirement is the gate: one advert for at least three weeks, placed within the two months before the complete application — since 1 October 2025 on the Jobsplus portal and EURES. Roles under the Key Employee Initiative, the Specialist Employee Initiative, the EU Blue Card or the Skilled Occupation List need two weeks; health and care roles, change-of-employer applications, regulator-endorsed cases and sportspersons are exempt. The employer records why Maltese, EEA or Swiss applicants were not suitable; an advert that does not meet the rule makes the application ineligible.
In practice the advert runs while we source and test in Manila, so it costs no calendar time. What costs time is a defective advert: wrong channel, fewer than three weeks, placed outside the two-month window, or rejections of local applicants that Jobsplus will not accept. We check the advert before the file is submitted.
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.
The two tests change how volume hiring is planned. A 40-person company at the 100 % limit can add forty third-country workers in a rolling year; a 300-person company at 25 % can add seventy-five. Group companies are assessed together unless a separate assessment is requested. Terminations, including resignations, count against you — which is why selection by trade test, honest briefings and good housing matter more in Malta than almost anywhere else in Europe.
Identità's residence-permit fees since 1 August 2025: €600 for a first-time single permit (previously €300), €150 for each year of renewal, €600 for a change of employer, €300 for a change of designation. Roles in the health sector and in the care of elderly or disabled persons pay €150 for everything.
A first permit is issued for one year. Renewals are checked against the contract as approved (Identità can confirm pay against tax-authority data) and run for two years for roles in ISCO major groups 1–4 and for three years under KEI, SEI, the Skilled Occupation List and the Blue Card; for roles in groups 5–9 the longer renewal follows the completion of training — in tourism and hospitality, a Skills Pass holder renewing after a clean first year can move to a two-year permit.
A worker whose employment ends has 30 days to find new work in Malta, extendable by a further 30 days on proof of means; the change-of-employer application is exempt from advertising and costs €600.
Count three to five months from brief to first working day on the standard route: two to four weeks to a tested shortlist, the three-week advert in parallel, Identità's decision for a complete still-abroad file — Identità publishes no service standard for the standard route; in 2026 complete files are typically decided within two to three months — then the visa in Manila and the DMW exit steps, two to four weeks. SEI and KEI files are decided in 15 and 5 working days respectively and take one to two months off the total.
The single biggest delay we see is a worker starting the Pre-Departure Course late. We start it on the day of selection.
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.
No. Since 1 August 2025 Identità rejects single-permit applications from people who entered on non-work visas, with narrow exceptions. Workers from the Philippines apply from abroad, receive an Approval in Principle and enter on a national visa.
The employer files through Identità's Expatriates Unit; the worker supplies the personal documents, the Pre-Departure Course certificate and, after approval, applies for the visa in the Philippines. We prepare both sides of the file.
To every first-time application except the exempt categories: health-sector roles, care of elderly or disabled persons, change-of-employer applications, regulator-endorsed cases, sportspersons and structured student placements. KEI, SEI, Blue Card and Skilled Occupation List roles need two weeks.
New applications are refused until the rate falls below the line for your size class; renewals are not affected. The thresholds step down to 50/45/40 % from 1 July 2026. We look at your Jobsplus record before we start, and if you are close to the line we plan the round in tranches.
No. Your company is the employer under a direct contract verified by the Migrant Workers Office; we recruit, test, document and support. Agencies that place their own employees with clients are assessed together with the end client by Jobsplus and fail when the client fails the labour-market test.
No. English is an official language of Malta and the language of Philippine schooling and trade training; the Pre-Departure Course interview is conducted in English.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.