Five applicants have so been given approval in principle for Maltese citizenship, according to sources. Their applications were submitted by different agencies, one of which was Henley.

A few weeks ago, Chetchuti Cauchi Advocates announced that the first approvals had been granted under the Individual Investor Programme which grants foreigners Maltese citizenship. However, the Home Affairs Ministry had declined to say how many had been issued.

It is very encouraging to see that many of them are actively seeking investment opportunities here in Malta

‘Approval in principle’ means that the applicants have passed the rigorous due diligence process, which is being carried out by a variety of entities, including the agent, Identity Malta, the police and one of a handful of specialist international companies contracted for this purpose. Once the information has been gathered – a typical dossier could run to hundreds of pages – a multidisciplinary team meets to assess the outcome.

The due diligence process continues until the actual naturalisation and should any information come to light after the citizenship has been awarded, the law gives the government the right to withdraw it.

The applicants have already paid €10,000 as a deposit and will now need to pay the balance of €640,000. Although most of the applicants are already renting property in Malta, they have four months in which to either rent or buy. They also have to buy €150,000 worth of government stocks. The applicants must also provide proof of health insurance within the four months. Although some of the applicants have been in Malta for years, others will need to wait until they have been here for 12 months.

“Clearly, many of the applicants are interested in a Maltese passport because it gives them mobility within the EU. But it is very encouraging to see that many of them are actively seeking investment opportunities here in Malta,” the sources said.

“We have already seen enquiries about real estate, holding companies, back office work and more.”

They said that a number of enquiries did not reach application stage as there was a ‘robust’ filtering system in place to ensure that those not eligible – for reasons varying from age to inappropriate connections – did not waste time and money.

There have been over 300 applications from over 30 nationalities so far.

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