Malta property market may suffer from residents scheme suspension

A number of applications originating from Iran are believed to be the reason behind the Maltese government's decision to unilaterally suspend the Residents Scheme for non-EU nationals indefinitely,

"Government should have assessed the economic implications before suspending the scheme. Various estate agents have been actively promoting Malta abroad, especially in South Africa and China, and it is understood that this drive was leaving the desired results. This drive was given the blessing of government through Malta Enterprise.

"Even worse is the negative reputation that Malta will receive by those non-EU nationals that had their application accepted recently and paid the minimum tax of EUR4,192. This is now being refunded much to their disappointment for having their application accepted only to be rejected a few days later.

"If it is true that concern was raised over doubtful applications, government could have investigated on a case-by-case basis rather than suspend all applications including bona-fide potential foreign residents. This decision seems to have been taken by government rather than the European Commission and thus more sensitivity should have been shown especially when Portugal just introduced a Residence Scheme to boost its property industry."