Citizenship Law

Malta's Citizenship Law has undergone a number of developments that have consolidated Malta's reality as a multi-cultural melting pot of successful international business families who have, over the years, featured Malta prominently in their international lifestyles.   Since 2002, Chetcuti Cauchi has evolved into one of Malta's most respected law firms with a focus on private client matters, especially personal taxation, citizenship law and residency-by-investment, high-net-worth immigration and investor migration.

Citizenship Law in Malta

Under the Malta Citizenship Act, the modes of acquiring Maltese citizenship include:

• Maltese Citizenship by Investment (Granting of Citizenship for Exceptional Services Regulations)
• Maltese Citizenship by Descent

Our Malta Citizenship Law Practice

Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates’ team of specialised Citizenship lawyers is dedicated to providing sound Malta citizenship law advice and cross-border relocation assistance to private clients, individuals of Maltese descent, and high net worth individuals worldwide. Led by Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti and Dr Priscilla Mifsud Parker, Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates' award-winning Malta Citizenship Law team is the oldest specialised immigration law practice in Malta. We have successfully represented individuals and families ranging from expatriate retirees, immigrants seeking employment, entertainment and sports personalities to HNW and ultra high-net-worth individuals.

For clients fully relocating to Malta, we also provide practical relocation assistance ranging from transportation of movable effects to schooling, renting or buying of property, attainment of a driving licence and health insurance coverage.

Chetcuti Cauchi is the citizenship law firm of choice for a number of international law firms and global citizenship advisory firms seeking premium specialist citizenship law citizenship law advice and assistance for their clients.

Our Approach to Maltese Citizenship Law

We pride ourselves of an honest approach, taking on only clients whom we genuinely believe have a clear eligibility path to citizenship. We achieve this by providing experienced citizenship eligibility assessments before taking on clients, to avoid disappointing rejections which are invariably damaging to applicants' prospects of immigrating in alternative jurisdictions. This also enables us to identify special situations and challenges that require special disclosure and legitimate explanation, often resulting in successful outcomes owned to a fairer consideration of our detailed case for our clients. We are transparent with our clients from the outset, providing detailed fee and cost projections, often on a pre-agreed fixed-fee basis.  Our experience allows us to proactively follow up ongoing processes, and to pre-empt the next steps and possible obstacles to always ensure advance preparation and maximum efficiency in all aspects of our citizenship law practice.

Malta as a Destination for Global Citizens

Malta owes its lure as a popular destinations for global citizens is based on a number of factors:

• a high standard of living and personal security;
• a hospitable, multilingual and multicultural people;
• visa-free travel to over 190 countries, including UK, US, Canada;
• the right to live, work, study, invest and do business in all 27 EU member states.
• a stable and reliable personal and corporate tax system.
• an extensive network of double taxation agreements.
• the res non-dom tax system, essentially a remittance basis of taxation.

Licenced Citizenship Lawyers

Chetcuti Cauchi's citizenship practice dates back to the inception of the firm, with the firm's co-founder and warranted advocate Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti assisting individuals and families seeking citizenship by descent or citizenship by naturalisation, or seeking Maltese Permanent Residence. In 2011, a regulatory framework for immigration agents was introduced to ensure high quality practices by qualified and competent immigration agents. This came with Act XVI of 2011 which introduced the High Net Worth Individuals - EU/EEA/Swiss Nationals Rules, 2011. This new legislation amended the Income Tax Act and replaced the old Permanent Residence Scheme. The firm's immigration subsidiary obtained immigration agent licence no. ARM00103.

The first Maltese citizenship by investment programme, the Malta Individual Investor Programme or MIIP Regulations, was introduced in Malta in 2014. Chetcuti Cauchi's immigration firm represented by Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti was granted the first licence as a Maltese Citizenship Accredited Person, licence IIP001, and represented the programmes first applications (and approvals) that year.

Under the 2020 Citizenship for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment, our Senior Partner Dr Priscilla Mifsud Parker is duly authorised to act as a licenced citizenship agent in terms of the Agents (Licences) Regulations, 2020 (L.N. 435 of 2020) and bound by the “Licence Agreement and Code of Conduct and Ethics for Agents” entered into with Community Malta Agency. Citizenship Agent Licence AKM-ACCA.