Passport elite could be kept secret by minister under new citizenship rules

The minister for home affairs has been granted the power not to publish the names of passport-buyers who acquire Maltese citizenship, “for reasons of security.” 

A legal notice on 30 November gives the minister responsible for citizenship absolute discretion not to publish the names of citizens who acquire a Maltese passport when the government publishes the annual list of new citizens, whether naturalised or bought. 

The publication of these names has always been controversial, with attempts by the Maltese government to keep these names secret thwarted at the first draft of the IIP, which was devised by citizenship experts Henley & Partners. 

Maltese citizenship rules make it mandatory that all names of people granted Maltese citizenship by registration or naturalisation are published in the Government Gazette. 

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But in 2014, it started publishing them in a way that makes it close to impossible for disinterested readers to identify possible ‘celebrity’ or big-name applicants who are buying Maltese citizenship under the Individual Investor Programme. Instead of listing them alphabetically by their last name, it started listing them by their first name: that means that group applicants of the IIP do not appear under the same family name but could be at the either end of the list if say, the husband’s name starts with ‘A’ and the wife’s name starts with ‘Z’. 

Malta’s former Individual Investor Programme, which sold passports to the ultra-wealthy for over €1.1 million, has now been replaced by a new set of rules euphemistically called the ‘Citizenship for Exceptional Services Regulations’. 

The programme is run by a government agency with an equally soft appellation, Community Malta, which is responsible for the administration of Maltese citizenship applications under various routes, including investment.  

Such “exceptional services requirements” include citizens who acquire their passport by paying €600,000 if they have been residents for 36 months prior; €750,000 if they have been residents for 12 months; and a further €50,000 for their dependants. They pay an additional €10,000 to a registered sport, cultural, scientific, philanthropic, animal welfare, or artistic non-governmental charity; a €700,000 property or five-year letting agreement of a minimum €16,000 per annum; and €15,000 in due diligence fees per applicant. 

Money from the sale of passports goes to the National Development and Social Fund, Malta’s posterity fund, which in 2019 registered a profit after a sudden downturn in invested stocks the previous year. During 2019, the NDSF received €106 million from the IIP, so that the total amount of proceeds received since 2015 amounted to €572.1 million. Its assets comprise €195.29 million held in foreign and domestic financial investments and €371.87 million in cash and cash equivalents.