If you’re interested in obtaining Malta citizenship, you might just be in luck. Malta has recently announced proposals to sell citizenship of its nation. All it will take is €650,000 (about $888,000). Not surprisingly, the Maltese government has halted its efforts to offer this perk due to rising criticism from both inside Malta and from other EU countries.
The European Parliament will hold a debate about it on January 15, 2014. As the European People’s Party chairman Joseph Daul said, “The citizenship scheme as adopted by the Maltese Parliament in recent weeks seems to be a clear abuse of EU citizenship and Schengen rules.”
Malta is continuing to defend its plan which would target affluent people to boost Malta’s economy. Kurt Farrugia, head of Communications for the Maltese government, said “It’s not an over-the-counter sale of citizenships.”
As part of the plan, the applicant doesn’t even have to live in Malta. As long as they live in any of the other 27 member states of the EU, and as long as they can cough up the money…they can have their citizenship. In addition, they have to be “reviewed on online databases, this is followed by a background check and a risk assessment which examines the applicant’s nationality, job sector and where he or she conducts business. Lastly the information is verified against government databases, including CIA, FBI and UK police files.”
Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat predicts that the scheme will bring in over $41 million annually.
