Malta Startup Residence Programme – core employee

Route status

Active as of 2025-08-27^[1]

Open to new applications under the rules recorded below.

Status details
Nationality restrictions	Nationalities: Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela Restriction: excluded as of 2025-08-27^[1] Nationals of the listed sanctioned countries, or persons with close ties to them, are ineligible; the eligibility document states the list may be revised from time to time. The restriction applies to founders, co-founders, core employees and family members alike.

Residency route facts

Identity

Identity
Official name (local)	Malta Startup Residence Programme – core employee as of 2025-08-27^[1] Malta enacts and publishes in parallel official English and Maltese texts and English is an official language of Malta; the official English name is therefore recorded identically as the local name rather than as a translation.
Official name (English)	Malta Startup Residence Programme – core employee as of 2025-08-27^[1] The programme document names the limb 'core employees'. Founders and co-founders are covered by the entrepreneur-family route mt-startup-founder.
Legal basis	Not established from a qualifying source
Instrument type	residence permit as of 2025-08-27^[1] A three-year residence permit, extended by a further three years on successful completion. Residence cards are issued by Identita and the employment licence by Jobsplus.

Who can apply

Who can apply
Nationals not served by this route	EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2025-08-27^[1]
Minimum age	18 as of 2025-08-27^[1] Founders, co-founders and core employees must be eighteen years or older.
Criminal-record condition	Yes as of 2025-08-27^[1] Applicants must have no criminal record or pending criminal charges and must not pose a potential threat to national security, public policy, public health or the public interest, and must not have had a previous application for permanent residency, residency-by-investment status or citizenship rejected in Malta or abroad.

Permit terms

Permit terms
Initial duration	3 years as of 2025-08-27^[1] The residence permit of core employees is issued for three years.
How the initial term is set	fixed
Renewable	Yes as of 2025-08-27^[1] Extended by a further three years upon successful completion, subject to the startup maintaining the approved business activity and to the other residence permit prerequisites as determined by Malta Enterprise and Residency Malta Agency.
Renewal duration	3 years as of 2025-08-27^[1] Three years for core employees and their family members; founders and co-founders are extended by five years instead.
Maximum total duration	Not established from a qualifying source Not stated beyond the three plus three years published for core employees.
Work rights	own activity only as of 2025-08-27^[1] The work right is tied to the full-time employment contract with the startup that benefited from the programme, and requires a Jobsplus employment licence.

Permanent residence and citizenship

Permanent residence and citizenship
Counts toward permanent residence	Not established from a qualifying source The eligibility document does not state whether time on the permit counts toward EU long-term resident status.

Requirements

Requirements
Job offer required	Yes as of 2025-08-27^[1] A full-time employment contract in Malta with the company that has benefited from the Malta Startup Residence Programme, entered into within the timeframe during which the venture is classified as a startup. No minimum contract term is stated.
Salary threshold	Measured against: set by decree or programme rules Amount: EUR 30,000 per year as of 2025-08-27^[1] An annual gross salary of at least EUR 30,000 per annum. An absolute figure with no index or reference wage behind it.
Labour-market test	No as of 2025-08-27^[1] No labour market test, advertising requirement or vacancy check is stated anywhere in the programme's eligibility document or on its portal.
Qualification requirement	none as of 2025-08-27^[1] No degree or years-of-experience test is stated. The programme describes core employees only as employees who are vital for the startup to start operating in Malta and who have specialised skills.
Employer sponsorship	Yes as of 2025-08-27^[1] The limb exists only in relation to a beneficiary startup, and core employees may apply only after the founders' and co-founders' permits are approved.
Job-search route	No as of 2025-08-27^[1]

Process

Process
Where to apply from	Not established from a qualifying source The eligibility document does not state where the application is filed. It states that core employees submit their application online after the residence permit is approved for the founders and co-founders, and that third-country nationals requiring a Schengen visa may apply for one following the issuance of a Letter of Approval in Principle; neither establishes a rule.
Fees	Kind: application Amount: EUR 750 as of 2025-08-27^[1] Application fee per adult applicant or dependant, covering three years. Charged per: applicant Paid by: applicant Condition: Per adult applicant or dependant, for a three-year permit Kind: card Amount: EUR 300 as of 2025-08-27^[1] Residence card issuance fee payable to Identita per successful individual applicant, covering a three-year permit. Charged per: applicant Paid by: applicant Condition: Residence card issuance, payable to Identita Kind: renewal Amount: EUR 300 as of 2025-08-27^[1] Residency card renewal fee for core employees, covering a further three years. Charged per: applicant Paid by: applicant Condition: Core employee card renewal, three years Kind: other Amount: EUR 690 as of 2025-08-27^[1] Jobsplus employment licence fee covering the first three years. Core employees must pay a further EUR 690 to cover the licence for the next three years. Charged per: applicant Paid by: applicant Condition: Employment licence, payable to Jobsplus, per three-year period
Quota	Quota exists: Not established from a qualifying source No cap is stated for core employees. The eligibility document caps co-founders at six, which is a limit on the entrepreneur-family limb, not on this one.

Physical presence

Physical presence
registration only	to keep the permit as of 2025-08-27^[1] Core employees must declare at application stage the intention to hold their primary residence in Malta after approval. No day count is stated. The stronger requirement in the same document – a physical and tangible presence in Malta, living there and paying tax there – is imposed on founders and co-founders, not on core employees.

Family inclusion

Family inclusion
Family members may be included	Yes as of 2025-08-27^[1]
Eligible relations	spouse, unmarried partner, minor child, adult dependent child as of 2025-08-27^[1] Spouse, de-facto partner, minor children, and adult sons or daughters principally dependent on the core employee.
Family may apply at the same time	Yes as of 2025-08-27^[1] Immediate family members must be included in the first application even if they do not initially intend to relocate; later requests to add family members are handled case by case and approval is not automatic.
Family members' work rights	authorisation required as of 2025-08-27^[1] The residence permit issued to family members does not grant automatic access to the labour market; they may use the existing processes to apply to take up employment in Malta.

Your next step

Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.

The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.

Profile benefits

A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.

Create profile

Verification

Verification
Sources cited	1
of which official (tier 1)	1
Oldest as-of date	2025-08-27
Newest as-of date	2025-08-27
Reviewed on	2026-08-11
Schema version	1.1

Sources

[1] Malta Startup Residence Programme – Eligibility and Requirements, Version 4.2
Residency Malta Agency · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2025-08-27 · Accessed 2026-08-07