PM pledges revamped permanent residency scheme by end of month
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat says ‘unacceptable’ that foreign investors residing in Malta spend years trying to acquire a permit.
A revamped permanent residency scheme will be launched by the end of May as government is "confident" it will honour the self-imposed timeline, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today.
He also announced government was in the process of finalising the drafts for the setting up of a Citizenship and Visa Agency.
Muscat was addressing the press after a visit at RS2 software in Mosta, a company which focuses on the processing of data.
"While our country attracts investment and from a business point of view, our regulation system is very good, we lack on the personal touch. We are not giving foreign investors the red carpet treatment they deserve," he said.
Muscat said that government was to revamp the system how residency permits, visas and ID cards are issued to make it more expedite.
"It's unacceptable that while these individuals are investing in our country and providing jobs to our workers, we then send them to queue for hours to acquire an ID card," he said, adding that foreign investors must be treated with the "necessary courtesy".
Muscat said that permanent secretary Edward Zammit Lewis - who accompanied the Prime Minister to the visit - has been holding consultation meetings with the Chamber of Commerce and interested parties as part of the permanent residency scheme review.
Code of Ethics is 'not being ignored'
In separate comments to journalists, Joseph Muscat denied that the ministerial code of ethics was being ignored, despite reports of ministers or parliamentary secretaries carrying out private work.
"The Code of Ethics is being respected and I do not agree that people are ignoring it," Muscat said, adding that the Code of Ethics was being revised.
The Prime Minister however could not provide a deadline by which the revision of the Code of Ethics would be finalised adding that the process needed to take its time.