Foreign worker ended up homeless, suicidal while on appeal

Third-country nationals are ending up without legitimate income throughout a lengthy appeals process, with some being left without a roof over their head.

Despite this, government remains reluctant to address this issue, while refusing to disclose the number of TCNs on appeal.

The issue was first flagged by MaltaToday earlier this year, when this newspaper spoke to a number of non-EU workers who found themselves unjustly sacked and eventually appealed their termination in front of the Immigration Appeals Board.

The appeals process is notoriously long and during this period, TCNs cannot legally work while their case is being considered.

This newspaper was recently approached by Pradeep—not his real name to protect his identity—a TCN who found himself chewed up and spit out by Malta’s economic model. He arrived in Malta in July 2023 after spending about €7,000 in agent fees to find a job.

He had left his old job in Dubai after finding a bartender position in one of Malta’s top hotels. As soon as he arrived in Malta, Pradeep was told that his bartender position was no longer needed, and was instead given a waiter position in the hotel.

As time went on and the tourism season passed its summer peak, Pradeep found himself getting assigned fewer and fewer hours, to the point where he had to make do with a €450 monthly salary during the winter months.

After a few months of asking the hotel management to give him the bartender position he had applied for, the hotel terminated his employment, so his agency moved him to another prominent hotel.

Here too, Pradeep found no luck and his work relationship was finally terminated by the temping agency which managed his employment activity in Malta.

Fr Colin Apap tells MaltaToday of the fear he sees in third country nationals when they try to fight for their rights

So, after seeing a vacancy for an officer by a local security company he applied for a job, only to get rejected as Jobsplus informed the company that they, “are not entitled to process his work permits since we cannot justify the need of his additional workforce with his job position.”

To add insult to injury, on the day he was rejected, the security company published yet another vacancy for the same position he had been refused.

Without employment, his residence permit was terminated, and Pradeep decided to appeal his rejection in a long process in front of the Immigration Appeals Board (IAB).

He has since been in a legal limbo for just over a year, as he has been unable to legally work while on appeal.

“I was in a very bad situation mentally,” he tells MaltaToday, admitting that the stress of it all led him down a dark spiral where he eventually ended up suicidal. “I would have many panic attacks throughout the day,” he explained.

Pradeep eventually ended up homeless as he was unable to pay his rent. Luckily, his desperation led him to seek out help from the Indian community in Malta, where his mental state eventually improved.

But his appeal still means that he has no legal income, doing a few odd jobs here and there to get by.

Pradeep says that one of the locals who helped him was none other than Fr Colin Apap, who also spoke to MaltaToday for this piece.

Apap detailed his experience working with abused foreign workers, adding that such workers have been reduced to shells of themselves at the hands of abusive employers.

He recounts one example he had seen first-hand when he empowered food couriers to organise themselves in order to improve their working conditions. Apap says that when he started to meet food couriers face-to-face, he noticed them always looking over their shoulder, unable to stay at ease.

He explained that they were terribly afraid of their employers, as they felt as if meeting with Maltese people to better their financial situation could get them in serious trouble.

In fact, MaltaToday previously reported that when more couriers decided to fight for their rights by joining the General Workers’ Union, employers had threatened them not to go anywhere near the union’s headquarters.

As a result, the photo of the couriers who joined the union that was sent to the media only pictured the new members from the back to keep them anonymous.

Employment Ministry defends banning TCNs on appeal from legal employment

In response to questions sent by MaltaToday, the Employment Ministry rejected that TCNs on appeal have no legal safeguards.

“The government has already taken significant steps to ensure a fair, transparent, and orderly system through the Malta Labour Migration Policy,” a spokesperson said.

The ministry pointed to a measure in the Labour Migration Policy which gives TCNs a 60-day grace period to find alternative employment. The spokesperson failed to mention however, that the grace period is given to TCNs who show sufficient financial resources to support themselves without accessing social assistance.

This ignores the reality of many TCNs who live pay check to pay check, as their low salaries are often eaten up by high rents and other expenses.

On the IAB, the ministry stated that government introduced legal and procedural amendments to improve the efficiency of the board. “These reforms ensure that appeals are decided within a shorter timeframe, providing greater clarity and legal certainty.”

The spokesperson refused to share the number of TCNs on appeal in front of this board, as the latest figures obtained by MaltaToday in June showed around 5,000 workers on appeal.

The ministry defended the decision to prevent non-EU nationals from working while they are appealing their case: “Allowing individuals to work, and non-adhering employers to employ, despite a negative decision would create room for abuse and undermine the credibility of Malta’s immigration system and the integrity of the labour market.”