This is the cluster where the honest answer is unambiguous: Malta no longer sells citizenship. Anyone offering Maltese citizenship-by-investment is selling a product that no longer exists. Here's exactly what changed, what the MPRP does and doesn't do, and the narrow routes that remain.
What the court decided
On 29 April 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in Case C-181/23 that Malta's investor-citizenship scheme was contrary to EU law, finding that selling citizenship without a genuine link to the member state was incompatible with EU citizenship. Malta ended the scheme and removed the investment route from its nationality law. There is no longer a price at which Maltese citizenship can be acquired.
Why you can no longer buy Maltese citizenship
The principle the court applied was that EU citizenship — which Maltese citizenship confers — cannot be commercialised, because it carries rights across all member states. A scheme granting it in exchange for payment, without genuine residence or connection, breached that. The practical effect is total: the former Malta Exceptional Investor Naturalisation route is closed, with no successor investment route.
The Malta MPRP is residence, not a passport
It's worth being clear that the MPRP was never the citizenship scheme. The MPRP is permanent residence: it gives you residence in Malta and Schengen access, but it never carried an investment clock to naturalisation, and the 2025 changes don't alter that. If your goal is a Maltese passport by investment, the MPRP was never that route, and no route now is.
The routes to a Maltese passport now
| Route | Available? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Citizenship by investment | No | Struck down by the CJEU (C-181/23), removed from law |
| MPRP → citizenship | No | MPRP is permanent residence only; no naturalisation clock |
| Citizenship by merit | Yes (discretionary) | Exceptional contribution + genuine link; no payment route |
| Ordinary naturalisation | Yes | Long genuine residence and integration, like other EU states |
What the merit route actually is
Malta introduced a citizenship-by-merit route in 2025: a discretionary, payment-free path for those who make an exceptional contribution to Malta or to humanity and have a genuine link to the country, in fields such as science, innovation, culture, sport and entrepreneurship. It is genuinely selective and discretionary — emphatically not the old investor scheme renamed, and not something you can buy your way into.
If you already hold citizenship from the old scheme
If you obtained Maltese citizenship under the former investor scheme before it ended, you keep it. The CJEU ruling addressed future grants, not existing citizens, so your Maltese and EU citizenship is unaffected. Only new investor-citizenship applications are barred.
Believing Maltese citizenship can still be bought, or that the Malta MPRP leads to a passport. The CJEU struck down the investor-citizenship scheme on 29 April 2025 and Malta removed it from law, so any offer to sell Maltese citizenship is for a product that no longer exists. The MPRP, meanwhile, is permanent residence with no naturalisation clock — valuable as an EU base, but never a route to a Maltese passport.
FAQs
Can I still buy Maltese citizenship in 2026?+
No — you can no longer buy Maltese citizenship.
- •The CJEU ruled the investor-citizenship scheme illegal on 29 April 2025.
- •Malta ended it and removed the investment route from its law.
- •Any offer to sell Maltese citizenship is for a product that no longer exists.
Does the Malta MPRP lead to citizenship?+
No — the Malta MPRP grants permanent residence only.
- •The MPRP never carried an investment clock to a passport.
- •It gives you residence and Schengen access, not naturalisation.
- •The 2025 citizenship reform does not change this.
What is Malta's citizenship by merit?+
Maltese citizenship by merit is a discretionary, payment-free route introduced in 2025.
- •It is for an exceptional contribution to Malta or humanity, with a genuine link.
- •Fields include science, innovation, culture, sport and entrepreneurship.
- •It is selective and is not the old scheme renamed.
What happens to people who already bought Maltese citizenship?+
They keep their Maltese citizenship.
- •The CJEU ruling addressed future grants, not existing citizens.
- •Their Maltese and EU citizenship is unaffected.
- •Only new investor-citizenship applications are barred.