I am writing to express my disappointment in the visa services of this country. We have never experienced such unhelpfulpeople and this sort of difficulty in obtaining a visa.

My partner holds a South African passport and currently also has 10-year visas for the US, the UK and Canada as well as having obtained multiple Schengen visas from Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands over the past 20 years. We also have family in Malta so were coming just for a week’s break to visit them.

The original plan was to also look at properties to invest here.

However I ended up having to travel without my partner due to his visa still not being ready a week after submission (in France it took three days, in Germany two days).

After much chasing and having to get angry, the visa was finally received a few days ago and was valid for all of nine days.

The whole process has left a negative impression, ruined a family break which could not be changed due to mid-term holidays, and certainly made us change our minds regarding investing in property here.

My partner was the only applicant at the Malta desk while there were many people applying for other EU countries, yet it takes twice as long and you only receive a few days’ visa!