Malta goes ahead with residency for expat entrepreneurs as EU warns Albania on golden passports

Non-Europeans who bring their start-ups to Malta can now benefit from a three-year residency permit for themselves and their immediate family, the island's enterprise minister Miriam Dalli said on 13 October. 

Founders of startups will then be able to renew residency for another five years, while core employees - earning more than €30,000 a year - can renew it for a further three years, the Times of Malta reported. 

After five years of legally living in Malta, they can apply for long-term residency. 

Dalli said the government wanted to turn the country into a hub for startups, however, it would also ensure proper due diligence, and only the best and most innovative businesses, with sound business plans, would be considered. 

Founders or co-founders who apply for the programme need to ensure their enterprise has not been registered for more than seven years anywhere globally.

Meanwhile, the European Commission Key has highlighted in its 2022 update report on Albania on 12 October that the country "should refrain from developing an investors' citizenship scheme (golden passports) as it would pose risks as regards security, money laundering, tax evasion, terrorist financing, corruption and infiltration by organised crime, and would be incompatible with the EU acquis".

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has been in favour of such an initiative since 2019 after attending a conference for "golden passports" in London. He considers the citizenship-by-investment programme as having "enormous potential" for the country.

And in 2020, Albania passed the law "On Citizenship", which included an article that would grant citizenship for "special cases".

In addition, the EU's annual report warns Albania's government regarding its proposed fiscal amnesty, reminding Tirana of being "on the gray list" for money laundering concerns, which means the fiscal amnesty would be an added risk and is against the advice of both the EU and Moneyval, and could jeopardize progress in combating money laundering.