Law on long-term residents awaiting Cabinet approval

New legislation to transpose into Maltese law a European Union directive on the status of people from outside the Union who are long-term residents has been drafted and is awaiting Cabinet approval.

The directive stipulates that long-term immigrants - those who have been living in an EU member state for more than five years - should be granted a set of uniform rights which are as near as possible to those enjoyed by EU citizens.

Member states may refuse to grant long-term residence status on grounds of public policy or public security.

Although the directive was due to come into effect last Monday it has only been adopted so far by Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. Denmark, Ireland and the UK are not bound by the provisions of this directive.

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said that the local legislation had been drafted but it had to be considered by the Cabinet together with other legislation to adopt a directive on the family reunification of migrants as well as changes to work permit applications.

Malta, he said, was not ignoring the directive and it was not against its implementation.

However, since it was a small country and the directive was a delicate one, it wanted to be very restrictive and applicants would have to prove they had health insurance, stable and regular resources to maintain themselves and their families without recourse to social assistance and prospects for permanent residence.

In essence, with proof of legal residence, a third party national in Malta for five years or more and who was not a refugee or a person enjoying humanitarian protection, would get peace of mind that he would not be sent out of the country arbitrarily. These third country nationals would also start enjoying certain rights currently enjoyed by Maltese residents.

The directive in fact provides for the free movement of the long-term residents and measures relating to external border controls, asylum and immigration.

People covered by the directive would be given permanent long-term residence status. They would enjoy equal treatment as local nationals with regards to access to employment and the right of residence in the territory.

Asked how many would benefit from the directive, the minister said that there were currently 2,600 work permits issued to third country nationals but not all qualified to apply under this directive.

Asked when the Cabinet expected to discuss the directive, he hoped it would discuss it in the coming weeks.