looking at moving to malta
 

Hi i wondered if anyone can help, myself and 3 friends are looking at moving to malta and opening a bar, how easy is it to get residency, do we need health insurance, and anything else we should know?
I have been over many times for long periods and have lots of maltesse friends there so know the island well.

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

Can your many Maltese friends not supply the info you want?

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

Just what I thought lol :starsmile:

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

I recall while staying in Gozo a few years back, an English bar next to the house I was staying in was as good as empty for most days of the week, only coming to life on weekends. I wondered at the time how sustainable such an establishment would be. Yet not far away a Maltese bar appeared to have a reasonable clientele most nights.
It was late September but concluded a sausage stall on the beach in summer would have been more sustainable perhaps?

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

My parents tried to emigrate back there about 10 years ago. Mum is Maltese with all her family still out there. Dad is retired RAF and they lived in UK since 1950's going on Malta Holidays all the time and having a blast. They lasted about 1 year and came back to the UK due to the corruption that seemed to be openly in most walks of life in Malta. It was 10 years ago and could have completely changed now but it's just an FYI.

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

I heard of this over a few visits to the island in recent years. Quite possibly worse now. Russian influence blamed in certain circles as making it worse. I really can't comment on the actuality of that besides harbouring suspicions with regards to validity. Perhaps better left as a holiday destination. 1 year is hardly a long time to last though. But UK hardly a bad option, providing in right location.

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

if you are British you need to register for a resident card at 90 days at Identity Malta. Under EU rules you can be self sufficient, self employed- employed, student,
for self sufficient - IMO the easiest option- you will need to show income of approx 93 euros per week or savings of approx 14k- this can be in any currency and in a uk bank . or pension income.
self employed is tricky as you have to pay large contributions to social security, higher than the uk after a very small amount of earnings.

for healthcare requirement you go to the health department show your british passport and they issue a certificate of entitlement which you use in your resident card application. Malta UK have a reciprocal health care agreement which predates the EU stuff.
After they ask you to move your heathcare to malta from Uk using the S1 form in uk.
in the meantime use your EHIC card- private care is low cost anyway to see a GP.
usually they want to see some proof of address/residence - lease- or if staying with friends they could write a letter on that basis...

Re the Bar- do not know about that, but I suggest you visit bars in Qawra and St Pauls bay-- where many expats live and some operate them, and ask about how it works. you will need a licence, ( for most things in Malta) and its usually a question of getting your paperwork right, as they can be picky.

Re: looking at moving to malta
 

It is too easy to say that it is simpler than the Italian one, not so much for the regulations, which are not very different from ours, but because the island, very small, allows really "village" relationships. In practice there is a location, we present our project to local ASL (which is called health departement) representing an expert who comes to see the structure and asks for any changes (from the chimney to the access for disabled) a Once the changes have been made, we return to request a verification; if all goes well there is the final go-ahead. All in a very short time. Rents are quite low. In our case we pay for a room of 60 square meters (between public area and preparation) and an external area about 1000 € per month. In addition to this you pay an annual permit to the tourism office of about € 550.