Nearly 10,000 applications from foreigners for the new e-residence card are still pending, the Home Affairs Ministry has told Times of Malta.

All existing ID cards for foreigners, marked with an ‘A’ for ‘alien’, were due to expire at the end of this month, making the need for the e-residence card all the more pressing.

But a ministry spokesperson said the validity of the old ID cards would be extended until December 31, 2015, due to the backlog of 9,801 pending e-residence applications.

Their validity was previously extended from June 30 to November 30.

“The Government is reviewing the work processes of the Department for Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs with the aim of improving its service to the public and shortening processing times for residence applications,” the spokesperson said.

“There is also an ongoing recruitment effort to increase the staff of the department.”

To date, 11,925 foreign nationals have received their e-residence card, the ministry said.

The e-residence application process began in January and has been dogged by inefficiency ever since.

No old-style ID cards have been issued to new or existing foreign residents since last December, compelling foreigners to apply for the new e-residence card. It is supposed to serve as both an identity and residency permit.

There were people everywhere yelling and screaming. It was chaos

The previous Government said it was being introduced to comply with the European Union Act (Cap. 460).

Foreigners who spoke to Times of Malta shared horror stories about their attempts to apply for the card.

Government recruiting more staff

Danny Willis, 54, who holds duel British and Australian nationality, sent his application and all supporting documents by registered post in April.

He twice visited the Department for Expatriate Affairs in Valletta to follow up on his application but was unable to speak to an official due to the large number of people in the building for the same reason.

“It was like a third world country. There were people everywhere yelling and screaming. It was chaos, I could barely get out of the elevator,” he said.

In September he received an e-mail acknowledging receipt of his application but he has not heard anything since.

“I’ve tried calling but they never answer the phones and they don’t reply to e-mails. It’s very frustrating,” Mr Willis said.

He owns a property in Mellieħa which he renovated himself but he is having problems with utilities revenue management company ARMS.

ARMS has informed him that he needs the new e-residence card or an official document from the Department for Expatriate Affairs to pay the lower residential rates, but to date he has neither.

The utilities company appears to be sending mixed messages to foreigners, as it states in an e-mail seen by this newspaper that it will only accept e-residence cards with an “indefinite expiry date”. The e-residence cards issued to EU foreigners have an expiry date.

Patricia Graham from the expats’ lobby group Up in Arms said she suspects many foreigners won’t bother trying to get the e-residence card now that ARMS has said it won’t accept it as proof they should be paying lower bills.

David Reilling, 56, applied for his e-residence card by registered mail in May.

Despite providing the Department of Expatriate Affairs with photocopies of his residence certificate and ID card, the British Mellieħa resident received a call six weeks later asking to also provide scans of his passport, which he did under protest.

After much persistence on his part, he has finally received confirmation that he can collect his and his wife’s new cards.

“It has been a long slog,” he said wearily.

He thinks the only reason his card is ready for collection is because he was constantly contacting the department to check on the progress of his application.

“I know people who have waited a damn sight longer than me. My neighbour is a pensioner who applied around the same time and he hasn’t heard anything at all about his application,” Mr Reilling said.