New website to facilitate migrants' integration

The Ministry for Social Dialogue together with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Malta have launched an online portal (www.integration.gov.mt) to facilitate the integration of immigrants in Malta.

An Inception Report compiled by IOM Malta suggests the setting up of a front office that acts as one-stop-shop for the delivery of information and guidance on the range of available services by various agencies.

Addressing the final conference on the integration of third country nationals in Malta, Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli said diversity should become Malta's strength.

"To feel one as a nation, diversity must become society's strength and not its source of contention," the minister said.

A third country national, under the European Union acquis, is any person that is not a citizen of the EU.

Dalli kicked off her speech on the integration of immigrants by highlighting Malta's history, including the wave of Maltese who migrated to Australia and Canada in search of better job opportunities.

"We Maltese are nation of migration par excellence... The migration from Malta was characterised by ships leaving Malta to Canada or Australia because the situation forced them to seek opportunities abroad. Others stayed and others returned," Dalli said.

She said society must now understand that several migrants are here to stay: "Burying our heads in the sand is not an option."

Dalli insisted the government was committed to facilitating immigrants' integration in society.

"We have to prevent people from living on the margins of society; migrants who know little of our customs and culture."

She went on to add that employers cannot go around in search of the cheapest bidder and see which worker is ready to work for less: "We must ensure a level-playing field and we intend on adopting a national strategy on the integrations of migrants."

Project coordinator Martine Cassar welcomed government's commitment to include integration in its political agenda.

She explained that a lack of language skills prevented immigrants from understanding local culture was the main barrier. Access to education, employment and housing are other obstacles immigrants face.

According to the Inception Report, by 2012 there were 6,614 third country nationals (TCN) in Malta, the majority (784) coming from Libya, Russia (724) and Serbia (696). The data excludes refugees. Eurostat data also shows that there is a substantial number of Chinese and Filipinos who had a resident permit in Malta for 2012.

The same data reveals a steady increase in the rise of "other" resident permits and high proportion of residence permits for work reasons. A clear decline in the number of resident permits for education reasons and family reasons was registered.

Data shows that four of the five largest TCN groups in Malta - the Russians, Chinese, Filipinos and Serbians - have a large number of work permits issued and these have consistently increased for the four years between 2008 and 2012.

In line with Eurostat data, most employment licenses are issued to Filipinos.

According to the Employment Licenses Unit, a large number of employment licenses are issued to occupations in low-skilled labour areas, with the majority in 2014 issued to cleaners and helpers in offices, hotels and other establishments (704), home-based personal care workers (305), chefs (274) and labourers (231).

According to the Inception Report, over 20,000 foreigners resided in Malta (4.9% of the total population), including 10,000 nationals from EU countries.

Out of the total number of active employment licenses at the end of 2010, 5,046 licenses were issued to EU nationals, their family members or dependants; an aggregate of 2,529 licenses were issued to long-term residents and TCNs, whilst the rest - 1,388 - were issued to persons with Refugee Status.