Malta is shutting down its citizenship-by-investment programme — known as the Maltese Exceptional Investor Naturalization (MEIN) — after a ruling from the European Court of Justice. The court said the programme breaks EU law by selling citizenship without a real link between the applicant and the country.
Instead, Malta will focus on its existing citizenship by merit route. This programme has been in place since 2017 and offers citizenship to people who make an outstanding contribution in areas like science, research, culture, sports, or business. Now, the rules will expand to include philanthropy, job creation, and tech innovation.
The MEIN programme allowed foreigners to get Maltese citizenship with a minimum investment of €690,000, plus property and charity donations. With its closure, there are no more citizenship-by-investment programmes left in the EU.
People who already received their passport through MEIN will not be affected. Going forward, applications will no longer go through agents, and the names of new citizens will still be published in the Government Gazette for transparency.
Malta’s residency-by-investment programme is still active. If you’d like to learn more about your options, request a consultation with Astons.
