Residents and citizens
Maltese citizens living abroad who have visited Malta over the holidays, might have had a shock when they found out that being a Maltese citizen does not guarantee some of the rights enjoyed by residents. The distinction between citizenship and residency is often rather confusing.
Citizenship gives us legal status as Maltese. There should be no distinction between those living in Malta and those living overseas in this respect. But those living in Malta enjoy certain privileges not afforded to those not resident here. The identity card is a case in point.
The Identity Card Act 1976 requires that an applicant for an ID card must have “resided in Malta for not less than six months”.
It is not clear whether one has to reside uninterruptedly for this length of time, or whether one can accumulate these six months over a period of time, and if so, over what period.
So what are the benefits and privileges resulting from possessing an ID card over those of being a Maltese citizen?
One of the most common complaints made by visiting non-resident Maltese relates to local transport. Unless you show your ID card to the driver on the new bus system in Malta, you are charged the tourist rather than the residents’ rate.
There is also the case of travel on the Gozo ferry where rates are considerably cheaper for those carrying an ID card showing they have a Gozo residence.
Another example is the kartanzjan, a form of senior citizen’s card which is automatically granted to people holding a Maltese ID card upon reaching the age of 60. Currently there are around 100,000 people in this category who are entitled to certain benefits. There are other examples.
Such ‘discrimination’ would appear to be all the more galling when one sees foreign residents in Malta being issued with an ID card and enjoying benefits that are denied to Maltese citizens living overseas. It certainly underlines the fact that possessing an ID card is quite distinct from being a Maltese citizen carrying a Maltese passport.
One could argue that this is a clear case of discrimination against a class of EU citizens (which all Maltese citizens are, regardless of where they reside) that should be tackled at EU level. In this respect, in particular, one is surprised to learn that Malta does not allow foreigners living in Malta (whether they hold a Maltese ID card or not) to vote for Maltese candidates in EU elections, even though several other EU states allow this.
Maltese living abroad visiting Malta are often puzzled about the fact that their Maltese citizenship does not automatically translate to their being issued with an ID card.
Why cannot an ID card be issued in conjunction with every passport application?
Why are the ID card privileges (with the exception of voting at local and EU parliamentary elections in Malta) not extended to all people around the world who hold Maltese passports?
Whenever the ID card issue has been raised, such as during last year’s Convention of Maltese Living Abroad, the general feeling has been that one is opening a can of worms and the issue should be left alone. It is doubtful that any government would be willing to embrace the proposition that the ID card privileges (even if with the exception of voting rights) should be extended to all Maltese citizens, regardless of residence, bearing in mind the apparent magnitude of applications that would result.
No convincing reasons have been provided to justify the discrimination referred to.
The main argument against issuing the ID card to non-resident Maltese has been that it entitles its holder to vote at elections. However, this does not appear to be correct as resident foreigners have been issued with ID cards without being granted the right to vote at Maltese and EU parliamentary elections.
By way of compromise, instead of extending the full set of privileges to non-resident Maltese citizens, it would be proper for the government to acknowledge the issue and address it by considering introducing some sort of identification, short of a full ID card, which non-resident Maltese citizens visiting Malta, particularly senior citizens and students, can benefit from having.
This could take the form of a ‘temporary ID card’ which allows senior citizens and students to travel on public transport at the same transport fares as local residents, and maybe enter cultural and historical sites in Malta at concession rates.
Such a solution would go a long way towards recognising the privileged status of holding Maltese citizenship regardless of residence, and would be most appreciated by visiting Maltese senior citizens and young students living abroad who visit our beloved Malta.
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Mary Rose Carruthers
Jul 13th 2012, 21:15
I have lived in Scotland for the past 35 years married to a UK citizen, I could have had a British passport anytime BUT I wanted to keep my Maltese passport and didn t want to have a second passport as I think that the Maltese one is enough I am VERY proud to be maltese , but the situation in life for me is that I married a foreigner and I need to live abroad . Fair enough it was by choice BUT I am still maltese and I feel that the government whoever it is should appreciate the fact that we are strong maltese and that we shouldn t be
penalised for living abroad expecially those who kept their maltese passport. I had to go down to London to renew my passport from Scotland and it had cost me a fortune by the time I have paid for train hotel to stay the night food etc but I did not complain I went it would have been easier for me to apply for a British passport and much cheaper but I didn t as I wanted to get my maltese passport
so come on give us a break it s not for saving money as such it s more for the principle that we should be recognised in our place of birth
Rose Carruthers
Scotland
michelle agius
Sep 22nd 2011, 14:15
they got money to come for a holiday for paying bus fare they dont? they are better off then us as here we dont have good wages. what i would give to have money and go and live in england.
Mary Rose Carruthers
Jul 13th 2012, 21:26
Michelle it s not a matter of money it s a matter of principle when one keeps a maltese passport its
because we re proud to be maltese so repeat money is NOT the issue
David O'Neill
Sep 19th 2011, 12:03
Arriva's policy has another flaw - that of children aged 11,12 and 13.
Chiild fares are only available upto and including age 10. After that the only way to get the discounted day or 2 hour fare is to have an ID card. However the government does not issue ID cards until the age of 14.
I asked Arriva what a resident 11 year old should do to get a discounted day fare and have not received a satisfactory reply yet!
riccardo borg
Sep 18th 2011, 11:55
Dear Maurice Cauchi,
Surely Maltese/Australians that visit Malta can afford paying a few more cents to travel. They come out here, most of them when visiting Malta, stay with relatives for free or nearly so - after all they do go through the expense of handing Australian (made cheaply in China, etc.) key-chains or printed head scarves which they bring along.
I think that most visitors from Australia are nit-pickers and try to save the money which they later spend at local Casinos where they enjoy spending hours showing off their riches and losing them.
Been there, good Maltese are settled there and they make fine good citizens.
Adrian Sacco
Sep 18th 2011, 12:54
Mr Borg, I can only wonder at the extent of inferiority complex and other mental issues that could lead someone to denigrate his fellow countrymen in this way, based solely on the fact of their having been born or resided overseas.
Frankly, Sir, I pity you.
Mr Peter Murray
Sep 18th 2011, 15:05
Dear Mr.Borg,
Are these Aussie/Maltese freeloaders(according to your submissions)taking winnings only out of the casino's they appear to love so much according to your profoundly admirable knowledge and ,irrespective of what you suggest to the contrary, contribute nothing whatsoever to the Maltese economy whilst here? In any event,your inappropriately hostile input totally circumvents the issue and subject matter raised by the correspondent .
Mr Peter Murray
Sep 18th 2011, 11:28
An application fro an ID card must conform with substantailly more than "having resided in Malta for not less than six months" althought eh Act in this reagdr should expalin the situation more accpountably and comprehensively.For this "six months " criterion must be a consequetive period and within any given twelve month period also.However,the application the Alien Status applied the person's true identity on the card-as shown by the letter "A": must be terminated forthwith,as this is not only discriminatory but moreover,is incomplete infromation and socailly unacceptable.as all it immediately identifies is that the holder is non-Maltese.In any event,I thought that any citizen who is a member of an EU community state is afforded equal rights ,yet is still considered as an Alien when applying for an ID card and is disconcertingly not afforded equal rights in many aspects ?Two of these ,but not limited to such,are that the ID card is not then accepted a s valid travel document and in th ecase of UK subjects they are afforded the same privelege as Maltes citizens who reside in the UK and whose name appears on the electoral register are entitled to vote in all elections in the UK icluding General Elections.Whyv all these massively unfair differentials?
Chris Green
Sep 18th 2011, 14:56
New keyboards are available at most computer stores.
william staines
Sep 18th 2011, 10:30
The ID card issued to foreigners living in Malta is not good for travel, it's just to simplify formalities with government depts and dealing with banks and the like. The cheaper fare is for tax payers, the very people who subsidise the local busses, why should some Maltese passport holder from Australia or where ever get the cheaper fare? Luckily in the UK we don't indulge in this nonsense, I have a feeling the EU will sort it out one way or another.
Mr David Willow
Sep 21st 2011, 07:36
The cheaper fares are NOT for tax payers but are for anyone holding a valid malta government issued id card irrespective of nationality or tax status.....
Gerry Cowie
Sep 18th 2011, 10:06
Some people seem to think they deserve special treatment even though they chose to live abroad and change their nationality and so no longer hold a Maltese passport. Otherwise I agree with this opinion piece.
What, therefore is the definition of true Maltese citizenship?
Then of course there is the little matter of Malta being part of the EU and not extending such rights and privileges to other EU citizens.
Mr Joseph Calleja
Sep 18th 2011, 17:05
I think and believe that any human being born in Malta, by right and by birth, is a Maltese Citizen and you cannot take that away from him or her. When a Maltese born person is asked what their nationality is, most of them very proudly answer that they were born in Malta, that little island in the middle of the Mediterranean, right below Sicily. If you travel a lot, you might know what I am talking about. You CAN take the boy out of the country but you CANNOT take the country out of the boy.
Pauline Peterson
Sep 19th 2011, 19:20
@Joseph Calleja, Well said. This is the best comment I have read for a long time. Thank you.
Mary Rose Carruthers
Jul 13th 2012, 21:24
I always have tears in my eyes when I proudly answer to where do you come from I m maltese
Oisin Jones-Dillon
Sep 18th 2011, 09:56
As far as non-Maltese EU citizens are concerned, Mr. Cauchi’s claim that ‘Malta does not allow foreigners living in Malta (whether they hold a Maltese ID card or not) to vote for Maltese candidates in EU elections’ has been superseded by recent corrections to national electoral law, as follows:
June 10th, 2011: AD applauds Electoral Commission for reforming registration system.
Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party applauds the Electoral Commission for reforming the registration system of EU citizens residents in Malta.
Prof. Arnold Cassola, AD spokesperson on EU and international Affairs, said that “at the last European elections held in 2009, hundreds of EU citizens resident in Malta had been struck off the electoral lists because of a very restrictive and wrong interpretation by the Electoral Commission of the concept of voter registration.
Alternattiva Demokratika is pleased to learn that the old system has been scrapped and now all EU residents in Malta will be able to register as voters for the European elections at any time and not only in the last six months prior to the elections, as was the case beforehand.”
Prof. Cassola concluded “all EU residents wanting to vote in Malta in the 2014 European elections can register as from September onwards, when they will be going to renew their Maltese identity card.
This is a positive step forward with regards to transparency, participative democracy and the respect of the basic rights of all EU citizens.”
Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson, said that “AD – The Green Party is proud to have played an important part, through the European Greens and the European Commission, in ensuring that Malta abides by common EU norms on voting rights of EU citizens”.
Source: http://www.alternattiva.org/archives/442
Oisin Jones-Dillon
Adrian Sacco
Sep 18th 2011, 09:00
An excellent letter. I am Maltese, born and resident overseas, and while I have had a home in Malta for the last ten years and spend a good part of my time here, I have never spent a six month uninterrupted period in Malta, and have never held an ID card.
I rarely use buses, but had occasion to do so just after the Arriva takeover. When I was asked by the driver if I was a "tourist" I showed him my Maltese passport (and said "does that say 'tourist' on the front?") and pointed out to him that there are probably many more Maltese who speak with English, American, Canadian and Australian accents than people living on the Islands.
Fortunately on that occasion the driver did not charge me the premium for "foreigners"/"tourists" (and I refuse to accept that the higher fare is the "standard" fare). What is particularly galling is that ID cards are issued to klandestini straight off the boat, who have NO right to be here, supposedly "entitling" them to a cheaper bus fare than me and many others like me.
How can that be right?
Mr Peter Murray
Sep 18th 2011, 15:19
If a Maltese ID card is issued to anyone then I think you will find that, contrary to your claims, they do then have a 'right" to be here by such an issuance thereof ,and whether you agree with that ,as indeed I don't also,is immaterial.Rules regarding conditions for I.D. card application acceptance or those relating to being eliglible for reduced fares are not made by Arriva drivers but by our own incompetent and discriminatory government.Why should those EU citizens resident in Malta who are eligible for an I.D. card be condemned to be considered, as registered as so as shown on the card,as an ALIEN.Now that is a more insidious issue to contest,I would argue.
Ray Woods
Sep 18th 2011, 08:55
We are supposed to be ciitzens of Europe. The fact is that Malta has chosen multiple forms of price and other discrimination that deny this - and are not practised by other states. Therefore, why should Malta remain in Europe?
fred newsome
Sep 18th 2011, 13:30
malta wants to be in the EU for what they can get out of it but don't want to stick to the rules of the eu
Joseph Ellul
Sep 19th 2011, 09:50
It does not matter who is in government in Malta, all these politicians want is to tax you out of your house and bank account , even when you are living overseas or taken up other citizenship. Shame !!!
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