Startup Residence Programme: founders and core employees of Malta Enterprise-approved start-ups

Eligibility requirements

• The start-up must have been registered for no more than seven years anywhere in the world, must not have taken over another enterprise's activity or been formed by merger, and must be fully incorporated and registered in Malta before residence cards are collected. It must comply with Malta's national FDI screening requirements.
• Eligible sectors include manufacturing, software development, industrial services analogous to manufacturing, health, biotechnology and life sciences, blue, green and sustainable industries, and other innovative activities using knowledge or technology to offer products or processes not readily available.
• Malta Enterprise must approve a detailed business plan and the start-up must meet at least two of three tests: revenue potential across multiple geographic markets; new or substantially improved products or services; new or substantially improved processes. Founders submit annual or biannual monitoring reports.
• Minimum tangible investment or paid-up share capital of €25,000, with an additional €10,000 for each co-founder beyond four; a maximum of six co-founders. Founders must show sufficient personal funds in their own bank statements.
• Founders and co-founders must be 18 or over, must not have been directly affiliated with a company in the same industry registered for over seven years, must have no rejected residence, investment-residence or citizenship application in Malta or elsewhere, and must undertake to live and pay tax in Malta.
• Core employees must be 18 or over, vital to the launch with specialised skills, employed full time in Malta by the start-up at a gross salary of at least €30,000 a year, and must apply after the founders are approved. Applicants from countries on the exclusion list are ineligible, and all applicants need health insurance covering Malta and Europe.

Legal framework

Build the evidence

Prepare records that substantiate the relevant criteria. The final checklist depends on the applicant, route and filing authority.

• A detailed business plan for Malta Enterprise: product or service, innovation evidence, market analysis, financial projections, funding, team and the Malta operating plan.
• Cap table and incorporation documents showing founders and co-founders, the investment or share capital of at least €25,000, and evidence of the funds' origin.
• Founders' CVs, prior-company affiliations (to evidence the seven-year rule) and personal bank statements showing sufficient funds.
• Passports, police conduct certificates, health insurance for all applicants, and civil-status documents for family members included in the first application.
• For core employees: full-time Maltese employment contract at not less than €30,000 a year, qualifications and a letter from the founders explaining why the role is essential to the launch.
• Evidence of compliance with national FDI screening and, where applicable, participation in an approved Malta-based accelerator.

How to apply

1. 01

   Obtain Malta Enterprise's approval

   Submit the business plan to Malta Enterprise for assessment against the sector, age and innovation criteria. Approval is the gateway; without it the Agency will not process a residence application.

2. 02

   Apply to the Residency Malta Agency

   File founders' applications (and family members, who must be included at the outset even if not moving immediately) with the €750 fee per adult. Visa-nationals may apply for a Schengen visa after the letter of approval in principle.

3. 03

   Incorporate in Malta and place the capital

   Register the Maltese company, evidence the €25,000 tangible investment or paid-up share capital and complete FDI screening. Residence cards are collected only after incorporation.

4. 04

   Collect permits and employment licences

   Founders and core employees receive three-year permits and employment licences (€690 per licence per the Agency). Family members receive permits of the same validity but without automatic labour-market access.

5. 05

   Operate, report and renew

   Submit the monitoring reports Malta Enterprise requires, maintain the approved activity and insurance, and apply for renewal (five years for founders, three for core employees) before expiry. All permits depend on the start-up continuing its approved activity.

After approval & family planning

• Spouse or partner, minor children and principally dependent adult children hold residence of the same validity. They may apply separately for employment authorisation but do not receive it automatically.
• Founders are expected to reside and pay tax in Malta. Prolonged absence undermines both the Agency's monitoring and any later long-term residence application under general rules.
• The programme is not itself a route to permanent residence or citizenship. A founder who genuinely resides for five years may be assessed under Malta's general long-term residence rules, which have their own integration conditions.

What this route builds, and what it opens

WG assesses every route on three returns: the knowledge it adds, the cognitive capability that sustained work abroad develops, and the institutional opportunity it opens or closes. Real work is the mechanism in each case.

Programme context. Where a participant is a genuine founder of a Malta Enterprise-approved venture that functions as the group's EU affiliate, this route may be assessed. An employee transferred to an existing Maltese affiliate is a single-permit case, not a start-up case. Read the framework ↗

Frequently asked questions

Points to consider

• Malta Enterprise's monitoring is substantive. Founders should plan reporting and milestone evidence from incorporation, since renewal depends on the approved activity continuing.
• The residence permit is tied to the company. A pivot into a different sector or a change of control should be discussed with Malta Enterprise before it happens.