The government today launched a new residence permit aimed at attracting remote workers to the country, parliamentary secretary for citizenship Alex Muscat announced.

During a press conference on Wednesday addressed by Muscat, together with Residency Malta Agency CEO Charles Mizzi and Identity Malta CEO, Anton Sevasta, the Nomad Residence Permit was launched.

Muscat said that when the scheme was being designed, the government did not want to limit the possibility of obtaining a Nomad Residence Permit to certain sectors.

He said that while a digital nomad may be employed in Rio, Brazil and paying his taxes there, he would be consuming in Malta.

“There’s a market for digital nomads. We’ve already attracted digital nomads in the past, ” Muscat said.

He explained that while their residency would be in Malta, taxes would be payable to a different jurisdiction.

Digital nomadism requires a good connection in terms of flight connectivity and internet connection, Muscat noted, and added these are already available.

He highlighted the various advantages Malta offers to digital nomads including the fact that the country is safe, quality education, and the healthcare system. He also underlined that the scheme could attract talent to the country.

Mizzi explained that remote workers have increased over the years, especially in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that there are already some EU citizens working remotely from Malta, but the government now seeks to attract third country nationals to the country.

Mizzi said consultation was also carried out with remote workers who are already here.

“Preparations have been ongoing for the past months and the idea behind the new system is to provide an efficient service,” Mizzi said.

Applications will be done online with the applicants required to provide various documentation and meet the necessary criteria.

Digital nomads are usually graduated youths aged between 25-35, Mizzi noted and added that in some cases, there are also families who opt for such a lifestyle.

Mizzi said the presence of digital nomads would contribute to the economy through consumption. There are about 1,000 digital nomads in Malta, most of whom are EU citizens.

Identity Malta’s CEO Anton Sevasta revealed that the agency had many enquiries about remote working in the past, especially from employees in the gaming and IT sector.

He highlighted that such employees who are not required to report to office, would choose to spend a few months in different countries.

Sevasta explained that such employees would be given a Nomad Residency Permit. In the eventuality that they choose to relocate to Malta they would then need to apply for an appropriate VISA.

Explaining the process, Sevasta said that Identity Malta will be launching a premium visa service which would see applicants receive their visa to their door subject to a €300 fee.