An IMGlobalWealth.com News Report
Malta referred 112 people to the police during the first half of 2026 as the authorities intensified compliance checks involving residence permits and related administrative processes.
The action was carried out by Identità, the government agency responsible for citizens’ identity management and the implementation of migration processes. Its remit includes identity cards, passports, visas, civil-status records and residence documentation. Its Expatriates Unit issues residence documents to EU nationals and residence permits to non-EU, or third-country, nationals.
“Malta’s population reached an estimated 588,254 at the end of 2025, with non-Maltese citizens accounting for 31.1%”
Identità’s Compliance Unit opened 301 investigations between January and June, concluding 242. It also closed 29 cases carried over from 2025 and conducted 122 inspections, 30 more than during the corresponding period last year. Some operations were undertaken jointly with other government authorities.
The inspections resulted in 112 people being detained and handed to the police for further investigation and possible legal action. Identità also conducted 371 interviews related to freedom of movement and processed more than 3,000 requests from property owners seeking to deregister people who had left their declared addresses without informing the agency. A total of 407 residence permits were revoked.
The enforcement figures are significant given Malta’s unusually high level of migration relative to its population. Eurostat recorded 29,433 residence permits issued for the first time to non-EU nationals in Malta during 2024. These covered employment, family, education and other grounds and excluded permit renewals.
The figure represented 51.7 permits per 1,000 residents, the highest rate in the European Union, despite the total falling by 29.8 per cent from 2023.
Malta’s population reached an estimated 588,254 at the end of 2025, with non-Maltese citizens accounting for 31.1 per cent. Net migration added 13,906 people during the year, 78.1 per cent of whom were non-EU citizens.
For a country increasingly shaped by international labour and mobility, effective compliance is central to maintaining confidence in its migration system.
