The Maltese government could start netting up to €155 million a year from the Individual Investor Programme after the initial pilot phase.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat recently said that the government is expecting that around 50 individuals will be granted Maltese citizenship every year in the first few years. This would translate into around €30 million in revenue. But Henley and Partners CEO Eric Major yesterday told this paper that after the initial phase, the firm expects to have 200-300 successful applicants per year.

The Prime Minister’s estimate is a rather conservative one, and probably only takes the main applicants into consideration. However, in reality, some of the applicants will have wives and children.

Main applicants will be required to pay €650,000 to the Maltese government. According to the contract signed between the government and Henley, 6% or €39,000 will be paid to Identity Malta as management fees, and a further 4% or €26,000 will be paid to Henley as a commission. The remaining 90%, or €585,000, will go to the government.

Spouses and children under 18 years of age will be required to pay €25,000 each, from which Identity Malta and Henley’s fees will be deducted.

On a conservative calculation of 50 applicants, with half having wives and a quarter having two children the government would net €31 million. If the same formula is applied to Henley’s projection of having around 250 successful applicants per year, the amount would rise to €154 million.

What Henley will pocket

Henley and Partners will be getting a €26,000 commission from the government for each successful applicant. It is not known if it will also be given a commission on citizenship granted to spouses and children. And apart from government commissions, Henley will also charge its own fees to its clients. The company will reportedly be charging €70,000 to main applicants, €15,000 to spouses and €10,000 to children under 18.

On the same conservative estimates used to calculate government revenue, Henley will potentially net €5.7 million for 50 applicants with spouses and children included. When the firm reaches 250 clients per year, spouses and children included, it could potentially be pocketing up to €28 million from Malta alone.