Joe Vella Bonnici, chairman of Identity Malta, the official body in charge of passports, identity cards, acts of civil status as well as Malta's individual investor programme amongst other matters, stated that Malta refuses applications submitted by Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea nationals.
Malta's legislation about citizenship was last amended in 2013, whereby prior to 2013, the ways in which an individual could acquire Maltese citizenship was by birth, registration and naturalisation.
Mr Vella Bonnici further pointed out that in the first phase of this initiative, Malta received the largest number of applications from Russia and nearby countries and this was mostly attributed to these countries' proximity to the EU region as well as the crisis in Cyprus.
At present, Malta's efforts at promoting its citizenship programme are directed towards Chinese and Brazilian nationals amongst other countries. Malta hopes to see more applications coming in from these countries. Up to now, over 700 applications for a Malta citizenship by investment. Over 110 Maltese agents can handle these applications.
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