The Government of Malta has announced that the Malta Labour Migration Policy will come into effect on August 1, 2025, introducing significant reforms to ensure sustainable economic growth and better protection of workers’ rights.
The policy will require employers to advertise vacancies for two to three weeks before applying for third-country nationals (TCNs), with advertising on the Jobsplus/EURES portal becoming mandatory from October 2025. It will also introduce stricter monitoring of employers’ termination rates; an excessively high termination rate will lead to the failure of the Labour Market Test and the rejection of applications for new TCNs. Moreover, TCN applications will be rejected where redundancies have occurred in the same role within the previous 12 months. This ensures that employers are not constantly hiring and terminating workers, which could indicate unstable employment practices or potential abuse.
Employers are required to submit engagement and termination forms within four working days, and late submissions may potentially lead to suspension of TCN application processing. Application fees will increase to €600 for first-time or change of employer applications, and new salary benchmarks will apply, requiring annual gross salaries of at least €30,000 for employees falling under the specialist employee initiative and €45,000 for employees falling under the key employee initiative.
Other reforms will come into force as of October 2025. These include the obligation for salaries for newly engaged TCNs to be paid electronically via licensed financial institutions, and a 30-day grace period, extendable by another 30 days upon proof of financial stability for TCNs whose employment is terminated.
Employers are encouraged to review these changes and update their internal processes to ensure compliance with the new policy requirements.
For any further information or tailored legal advice, please do not hesitate to contact the team at David Zahra & Associates Advocates.
