Wealthy foreigners buying Maltese passports have created a charity bonanza, donating €1 million to philanthropic groups, according to the agency managing the sales.

Henley and Partners, tasked by the government with devising the passport-for-cash scheme, said the most popular charities with passport applicants were the Community Chest Fund and Puttinu Cares. The donations to charities are not a requisite of the programme but are made as a gesture of goodwill.

Henley and Partners said 1,112 applications were being processed or had been concluded since 2014, netting the country a commitment of more than €1.5 billion.

At minimum, applicants have to pay €650,000 and buy property worth at least €350,000. They can also opt to rent property, with the minimum being set at law.

The Individual Investor Programme, Malta’s citizenship programme, is capped at 1,800 applications, with Henley and Partners group chairman Christian Kälin saying that the limit could be reached before the end of the first quarter of next year.