Fifteen people of Maltese descent applied for citizenship in the first three weeks of August after more liberal citizenship rules came into force.

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry told The Times the number of enquiries, mostly by e-mail, had increased since the legislation came into force on August 1.

He said the Citizenship Department was anticipating an increase in applications as more people gather information and apply for Maltese citizenship.

The new citizenship rules, approved by Parliament earlier this year, allow second and subsequent generation Maltese-born abroad to be granted Maltese citizenship - as long as they have a direct Maltese descendant.

According to the spokesman, five Australians, six Britons, two Spaniards, an Italian and a New Zealander have officially applied for citizenship. They range in age from 17 to 80.

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg announced in Parliament last February that Malta would extend dual citizenship rights to second-generation Maltese born outside Malta.

Before the new regulations came into force, Maltese citizenship was limited to Maltese born abroad with at least one parent born in Malta.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.