Working for anyone other than the employer named on the permit is explicitly forbidden, and those who miss the deadline after losing a job are deported.
Malta is welcoming at the door and generous at the far end: the work route has no income threshold beyond at least the minimum wage, long-term residence comes after 5 years, and English is enough for citizenship. In between, though, it is one of the strictest countries in our sample.
The permit is tied to the employer and the job title. Working for anyone else is expressly banned, and changing jobs means a new labour market test and a new application filed by the new employer. Under Identità's rules the permit stops being valid as soon as you leave the stated position, and failing to notify the agency of a change is in itself a ground for revocation. Since 1 August 2025 you get 30 days after a contract ends to find a new employer, plus 30 more on application if you have your own means.
Since 2025 policy has openly aimed to cut the inflow of low and mid-skilled workers. Freedom House's 2026 report says workers from outside the EU face low pay, bureaucratic obstacles and de facto expulsion if they miss the tight deadlines after losing a job. Neither Identità nor Jobsplus publishes refusal statistics. The citizenship-by-investment programme closed after the EU Court ruling of 29 April 2025; passports already granted were not revoked.
Families wait: you can apply for reunification only 12 months after your first permit, the sponsor needs at least €18,940 plus 20% per family member, and the decision comes within 60 days. A spouse gets no right to work: they need their own Single Permit, and taking a local job ends their family member status.
Day to day, opening a bank account takes 3-6 weeks of strict checks, sometimes with a reference letter from your previous bank. There is no separate address registration, but a lease or ownership is required for the application and each renewal. Renewals are filed before expiry, ideally 90 days ahead, and with the receipt you may keep working until the decision.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
Visa-free short stays, as in the rest of the Schengen area (up to 90 days within 180). To work, the same employer-led Single Permit as for other non-EU citizens.
No work permit or labour market test: EU free movement rules give the right to live and work.
EU temporary protection is extended to 4 March 2028. Since 31 July 2026 new applicants must show they left in line with their military obligations; people who already hold the status are not affected.
When we checked on 9 August 2026 we found no direct nationality restrictions on the Single Permit.
The place interval 54-68 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Path to citizenship: 77 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 57.1. The weakest is Pressure on newcomers: 40 against 65.2. Above the world average: 3 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
The rules give the authority up to 4 months; in practice the decision comes in 8-10 weeks, longer in summer. With the three-week labour market test and the pre-departure course, the path to starting work takes 3-5 months.
Only with a high income or capital: the Nomad Residence Permit requires €42,000 a year and does not lead to permanent residence, and residence by investment requires more than €100,000. Self-employment is effectively closed to non-EU citizens.
A first Single Permit is €300, each yearly renewal €200, the pre-departure course €250 and a family member application €50. About €1,450 for a family of three over five years.
Yes: the permit stops being valid when you leave the stated job. After a contract ends you have 30 days to find a new employer (30 more on application if you have your own means), and those who miss the deadline are removed.
Long-term residence after 5 years with a Maltese language test and a 100-hour course. Citizenship formally after 5 years, dual citizenship allowed, but the minister may refuse without reasons and there is no appeal.
Easy to enter, generous at the end, harsh in the middle: workers are tied to their employer, spouses cannot work and families cannot join in the first year. Since 2025 policy has openly aimed to reduce the inflow of non-EU workers.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.