Updated | Opposition seeks guarantees on 12-month effective residency

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil is proposing 13 amendments to the citizenship by investment programme, after the European Commission gave its approval to the legal notice. In a tweet, Busuttil said the proposals have been passed on to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

The Nationalist Party's amendments are aimed at "reflecting Malta's commitment to effective residency".

In a letter sent to Joseph Muscat, Busuttil said Legal Notice 47 – under which the foreign investors can obtain Maltese passports for €650,000 – has “a number of shortcomings” that need to be addressed.

“Among these, there is the need for the legal notice to be clear in reflecting that no one will be given Maltese citizenship if they have not lived in Malta for a minimal period of effective residency amounting to 12 months,” Busuttil said.

I've just sent 13 proposed amendments to the #citizenship scheme to @JosephMuscat_JM to reflect #Malta's commitment to effective residency — Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) March 3, 2014

The leader of the Opposition said he was reserving the right to present a motion to revoke the latest regulations as published by the government.

The amendments effectively mean that the Opposition has abandoned its original proposal to have a five-year residency requirement in the Individual Investor Programme and are now seeking assurances that all applicants – both the main applicant and the dependent or dependents – would have effectively resided in Malta for at least 12 months.

According to the amendment, those seeking a Maltese passport would have to provide proof that they have been effective residents of Malta for a period of at least twelve months preceding the day of the issuing of the certificate of naturalisation.

This is the first time that the PN is agreeing to a residency period of 12 months which government agreed upon after holding negotiations with the European Union.

At the time, the government had accused the Opposition of refusing to budge from their original proposal of a five-year residency period.

Another amendment proposed by the PN is the minister should have the right to withdraw citizenship if it is proved that the main applicants or the dependents did not hold effective residence in Malta for at least 12 months or if the applicants or dependents are no longer covered by international health insurance.

The Opposition wants the legal notice to force the applicant to take his oath of allegiance in Malta, something that is not specified in LN 47. It is also proposing that the operation of the programme should not be carried out by the concessionaire but by Identity Malta.