With reference to the article‘Hunderds of South Asians seek work with temporary permit’ (May 8), Identity Malta Agency would like to comment on the false claims that third-country nationals arriving in Malta are job seekers.
On the contrary, an application for a single permit by a third-country national must be endorsed by a local employer and should such request be acceeded to, the employment shall be solely undertaken with the specified employer.
Furthermore, the temporary authorisation to work is neither a “new employment registration system to find a job” nor a substitute to the single permit but part of the process that grants work and residence authorisation to third-country nationals as regulated by subsidiary legislation 217.17.
In accordance with the said subsidiary legislation, a third-country national may submit an application while still abroad or is legally staying in Maltese territory or that of another EU member state.
Once the applicant’s request has been successfully processed, and all necessary verifications and assessments were carried out by Identity Malta, Jobsplus and the immigration police, s/he may proceed to Malta provided the successful applicant has the necessary authorisation to enter Schengen territory.
In the interim period between the person’s date of arrival in Malta and the issue of the residence permit in a card format, a temporary authorisation to work is granted by means of an interim permit. The latter would be issued once the applicant finalises the application process, which includes medical screening and the capturing of biometric data.
Hence, work and residence authorisation is only issued to successful applicants following a thorough application process, which the temporary authorisation to work permit did not alter.
The temporary authorisation to work is granted on the provision that the original employer who endorsed the application shall submit an engagement form to Jobsplus within seven days from the issuance of the said interim permit. This is done to regularise his/her employment. Should the implied conditions of the temporary authorisation to work be breached, the permit will be revoked.
EU nationals who do not require permission to reside and work in Malta were included in the unsourced table reproduced in the article, which totals donot tally.