Government has appointed Nexia BT, the company embroiled in the Panama Papers scandal, as the Official Concessionaire entrusted with the promotion of the Malta Residence and Visa Programme.

The news came directly from the website of Nexia BT, and it was then circulated on social media by shadow minister for justice Jason Azzopardi.

Panama Papers refers to a massive leak of documents from the servers of Panama based law firm Mossack Fonseca to a German newspaper exposing the financial dealings of the world’s elite.

Brian Tonna became a household name after it came to light that he had facilitated the setting up of a secret company in Panama sheltered by a trust in New Zealand for both then Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri. The Malta Institute of Accountancy initiated proceedings to remove Brian Tonna as a member for his role in the Panama Papers scandal, having set up the dubious financial structures for Politically Exposed Persons without informing the tax commissioner as required by law.

The Malta Residence and Visa Programme (MRVP) is not to be mixed up with the controversial Citizenship by Investment Scheme that was introduced by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government in the previous legislature. The former grants residency status to non EU nationals while the latter grants full citizenship, a Maltese passport and with the possibility of being given a right to vote.

On 4 July 2017, government issued a legal notice amending some requirements and benefits of the MRVP.  The programme was initially introduced by then parliamentary secretary for competitiveness and the digital market Jose Herrera back in 2015.

The amendments made following its launch are as follows:

The definition of the term ‘dependant’ has been altered. Prior to the changes, children of the main applicant who are economically dependent on the main applicant and unmarried benefitted from MRVP until the age of 26. After that, they are no longer eligible for it.

Due to changes however the age restriction of 27 is no longer included, meaning that any adult dependent on the main applicant and who is unmarried is able to be registered as a dependent of the applicant for an indefinite period of time and without losing residency and visa rights when turning 27. Should the dependant get married at a later stage, the main applicant may also include the spouse and any children as dependent against a non-refundable fee of €5,000 per person.

Another change government has placed into effect is the requirement for beneficiaries of the MRVP is the restriction to stay in Malta for an indefinite period of time. Under the previous requirements, beneficiaries would no longer be eligible for the programme when becoming a long-term resident of Malta by default as defined by the Status of Long-term Residents regulations. A third country national residing in Malta legally for over a period of five years is deemed a long-term resident in the eyes of the law. Therefore beneficiaries of the MRVP would have to spend six months or 10 months aggregately over a period of four years outside of Malta in order to continue being registered under the programme.

Therefore, beneficiaries can no stay in Malta for an uninterrupted period of time.

Other changes relate to the inclusion of grandparents as dependents of the main applicant.

More general requirements to be eligible for the MRVP, apart from being a non-EU national as relayed by Identity Malta, are as follows:

-is at least eighteen years of age;
-meets the application requirements;
-has a clean criminal record (as do his dependants), has passed the due diligence test and is a fit and proper person;
-commits himself to provide proof of title to a qualifying property which may be either of the following:

A qualifying owned property purchased at a consideration of not less than two hundred and seventy thousand euro (€270,000) for a property situated in Gozo or in the south of Malta, or three hundred and twenty thousand euro (€320,000) for a property situated elsewhere in Malta

A qualifying rented property, taken on lease for a rent of not less than ten thousand euro (€10,000) per annum for a property situated in Gozo or in the south of Malta, or not less than twelve thousand euro (€12,000) per annum for a property situated elsewhere in Malta.

-commits himself to a qualifying investment of an initial value of two hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000) which must be held for a minimum of period of 5 years from the date of certificate.
-commits himself to pay in full a contribution of thirty thousand euro (€30,000) in accordance with these regulations.
-has not had his application deemed to be against the public interest.