It has now become an open secret that there is a racket revolving around the issuance of visas to Third Country Nationals applying as English-language students to Malta.

In many cases, once these "students" get their visas, they either never turn up for class or halfway through take a powder, the likelihood being another Schengen member.

It seems that the filtering system is easy to con.

Perhaps this could be made more difficult to achieve if the visa had the name of the English language school with which the applicant is supposed to have enrolled.

Could the visa also stipulate that the first port - air or sea - of entry in a Schengen member be Malta? Also, for the visa to be valid for entry into a second Schengen member, it must have an endorsement from the school authorities.

Malta was once vaunted as the bridge between Africa and Europe.

The indications now are that it has become a notorious stepping-stone from the Middle East and Asia to the Continent.

Joe Genovese