Shame on you! For months, perhaps even years, the government has promoted on local websites and newspapers that Malta welcomed and provided residency for those who were ‘economically self-sufficient’, namely people with a verifiable income of approximately €30,000 per year.

All that was required, we were told, was proof of income, proof of health insurance and proof of residence. How foolish we were, my wife and I, that we bit on this ‘bait and switch’ scheme that would have done the oiliest used car dealer proud.

After visiting Malta over several months, we finally moved here, obtained the necessary documents as stated in the government’s application form K for Economic Self-Sufficiency and proceeded to make our application.

Well, it seems we did not have the correct tax papers and were sent hither and yon to get such, which, it seems, doesn’t actually exist. After four different trips to two separate tax agencies, we returned finally to Identity Malta, the citizenship and expatriate affairs authority, only to be told, at long last, that they really did not mean they accepted economic self-sufficiency; what they really meant, although they are not telling anyone until they have actually committed to moving here, is that they have to acquiesce to government greed by paying a non-refundable ‘fee’ of €6,000 in addition to having to rent an apartment costing at least €9,600 per year.

Of course, our perfectly lovely apartment only costs €7,200, so it does not qualify, and the ‘fee’ mentioned in the literature is only €27.50, not €6,000.

We really wanted to move to Malta. Both my wife and I are internationally recognised artists and designers and could have brought a great deal of talent, skill and passion to Malta, but all the government wanted was our money. What greed.