What a skeptical buyer still cannot answer after the cost chapter
Our own cost chapter already says €99,000 plus rent or buy. That number is correct for a solo applicant or a spouse-and-minors household. It is not correct for a four-generation file, and the chapter does not say when each euro is due, whether the €7,500 is a contribution or an admin fee, or why the calculator on that page prices the programme in US dollars.
This page answers those five questions from one source: the First Schedule of S.L. 217.26, the Malta Permanent Residence Programme Regulations, as amended by L.N. 310 of 2024 and L.N. 146 of 2025. Two fee loci only. One table of official line items, one table of five scored households, and a calculator built from the same arithmetic. No third number, and no repetition of €37,000 in five different places.
The official line items, and nothing else
L.N. 146 of 2025, the Malta Permanent Residence Programme (Amendment) Regulations, 2025, was gazetted in the Government Gazette of Malta No. 21,472 on 22 July 2025. The consolidated regulations it produced, hosted by the Agency, are the only source this table uses.
| Line | Amount | When | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admin, main applicant, first tranche | €15,000 | Within 1 month of submission, or the Agency may refuse | Reg. 9(1) + First Schedule |
| Admin, main applicant, balance | €45,000 | Within 2 months of AIP | First Schedule |
| Admin, each (c) or (d) dependant | €7,500 | Within 2 months of AIP, or on later inclusion | First Schedule + reg. 9(4) |
| Admin, spouse (a), minor (b), disabled adult (e) | €0 | Not applicable | First Schedule proviso |
| Contribution, main applicant only | €37,000 | Within 8 months of AIP, same for rent or buy | First Schedule (ii) |
| Donation | €2,000 | Before certificate | Reg. 3, definition of donation |
| Qualifying rent | €14,000/year or more | Title within 8 months of AIP, held 5 years | Reg. 3 + reg. 9(4)(b) |
| Qualifying purchase | €375,000 or more | Same clock, held 5 years | Reg. 3 |
| Eligible assets, not a payment | €500,000 (€150,000 financial) or €650,000 (€75,000 financial) | Held at submission | Reg. 9(2) |
| Health insurance | Cover matching what Maltese nationals normally have | Within 8 months of AIP | Reg. 9(4)(d) |
| Temporary 1-year residence permit | Optional, no fee named here | On submission, renewable if docs land within 6 months | Reg. 9(6), added by L.N. 146 |
Who is waived the €7,500, and who pays it
Regulation 3's definition of dependant runs to five paragraphs, and only two of them carry the €7,500 administration fee. The rest are waived outright by the First Schedule proviso.
| Para | Who | €7,500 admin fee? |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Spouse or civil partner, gender-neutral | Waived |
| (b) | Child under 18 of the applicant or spouse | Waived |
| (c) | Unmarried child, 18 to just under 29, principally dependent | €7,500 |
| (d) | Parent or grandparent of either spouse, not in full-time work, principally dependent | €7,500 |
| (e) | Adult child certified disabled under Cap. 413 | Waived |
That is the whole scaling mechanism. A household of a main applicant, spouse and two minor children pays exactly the same admin fee as a solo applicant, €60,000, because every extra head in that household is waived. The fee only moves once an 18-to-29 child, or a parent or grandparent, joins the file.
The payment clock
Nothing in the First Schedule is due on day one except the first slice of the admin fee. The rest is staged against submission and against the Letter of Approval in Principle, AIP, and missing a deadline on the first tranche is the one point where the Agency can simply refuse the file.
Our application chapter puts AIP at roughly four to six months, with investment due within eight months after that. Lay the two timelines together and the €15,000 is usually gone well before an applicant has any certainty the file will succeed.
Five households, scored only from the Schedule
Assumptions printed here so nobody has to guess them: rent at the floor, €14,000 a year for five years, or buy at the floor, €375,000. No agent fee, no card fee, no insurance premium, since none of those are fixed amounts in the Schedule. Donation of €2,000 and contribution of €37,000 are each charged once per file, not per person.
| Household | Admin | Contribution | NGO | Official cash, ex-property | + 5-year rent | + buy floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Solo applicant | €60,000 | €37,000 | €2,000 | €99,000 | €169,000 | €474,000 |
| 2. Spouse + 2 minors | €60,000 | €37,000 | €2,000 | €99,000 | €169,000 | €474,000 |
| 3. Spouse + one (c) adult child | €67,500 | €37,000 | €2,000 | €106,500 | €176,500 | €481,500 |
| 4. Spouse + 2 minors + 2 (d) parents | €75,000 | €37,000 | €2,000 | €114,000 | €184,000 | €489,000 |
| 5. Four generations: spouse, 1 minor, 1 (c) child, 2 (d) parents, 2 (d) grandparents | €97,500 | €37,000 | €2,000 | €136,500 | €206,500 | €511,500 |
Expert tip
Household 5's admin fee is €60,000 plus five paying heads at €7,500, one (c) adult child, two (d) parents and two (d) grandparents, for €97,500. Spouse and the one minor child cost nothing extra. If your file has three generations and you are quoted €99,000 flat, ask which paragraph of regulation 3 each dependant sits under, because the answer determines whether that quote is right.
Common mistake
Treating €99,000 as the ceiling rather than the floor. It is correct only for households 1 and 2 in the table above. Our own cost chapter's headline number is exactly that floor, which is accurate as far as it goes, but is not the number a four-generation file should budget against.
What does this household actually owe the Agency?
€60,000 admin, no dependant fees triggered. €60,000 of this is the main applicant, split €15,000 within one month of submission and €45,000 within two months of AIP. 1 household member is waived under the First Schedule proviso.
€60,000 admin plus €37,000 contribution plus €2,000 NGO donation. The contribution is flat regardless of household size and is due within eight months of AIP.
€70,000 in rent over five years at the €14,000 floor. Not included: card fee, agent's professional fee and health insurance premiums, none of which are named amounts in the Schedule.
Where the official pages still disagree with the statute
The Agency has not finished updating every one of its own documents. The FAQ dated September 2024 and a corporate brochure dated January 2025 are both still hosted live on residencymalta.gov.mt and both still describe an admin fee and contribution structure that L.N. 146 of 2025 replaced.
| Live official file | Still says | Statute now |
|---|---|---|
| MPRP FAQs V2.6.5, September 2024 | Admin €40,000, contribution €28,000 buy or €58,000 rent, card €137.50 / 5 years | Admin €60,000, contribution €37,000 flat |
| Corporate brochure, January 2025 | Admin €50,000, contribution €30,000 buy or €60,000 rent, €10,000 per dependant | Admin €60,000, contribution €37,000, €7,500 only for (c)/(d) |
The Agency's own FAQ says the statute prevails when the two disagree. We print the clash rather than average the two sets of numbers, and this page uses only the consolidated PDF of S.L. 217.26 as amended.
The USD miss on the live cost calculator
Our cost chapter carries a calculator that prices the programme in US dollars, with a government, legal and transaction band of roughly $7,360 to $18,400 and a rental all-in range likewise quoted in dollars. Malta's residency-by-investment fees are set, gazetted and paid in euros. There is no dollar figure anywhere in S.L. 217.26. Converting after the fact hides the actual payment clock and invents a due-diligence band the Schedule does not contain. If you are pricing a real file, use the euro table on this page, not that calculator.
Frequently asked
Is the €7,500 a contribution or an admin fee?
Admin fee. The First Schedule of S.L. 217.26 lists it as a non-refundable administration fee for each and every dependant, payable within two months of the Letter of Approval in Principle. The word contribution is reserved in the same Schedule for the single €37,000 main-applicant payment. Our own cost, family and hub pages currently call the €7,500 a contribution, which blurs a line the statute draws on purpose: the contribution is one flat figure regardless of household size, the admin fee scales with how many dependants fall into the paying categories.
Who actually pays €7,500 and who is waived?
Regulation 3's definition of dependant sets five categories, lettered (a) to (e). A spouse under (a), a minor child of the applicant or spouse under (b), and a certified disabled adult child under (e) are all waived by the First Schedule proviso. Only an unmarried child aged 18 to just under 29 who is principally dependent, category (c), and a parent or grandparent of either spouse who is not in full-time employment and is principally dependent, category (d), carry the €7,500. A four-generation file can therefore look expensive on headcount and still owe nothing extra for the spouse and the minors in it.
Why does the live Malta cost calculator not match this table?
Because it was not built from the First Schedule. The calculator on our cost page speaks US dollars and quotes a government, legal and transaction band of roughly $7,360 to $18,400 on top of the headline figure, alongside a rental all-in range in the same currency. The First Schedule has no separate due-diligence line, no transaction-fee line and no dollar amounts at all. If you are pricing an actual file, use this page's euro table and calculator, then read the cost chapter for the property and lifestyle side of the budget.
Is the €15,000 first tranche a separate due-diligence fee?
No, and this is the mislabel we see most often. The €15,000 is simply the first slice of the €60,000 main-applicant administration fee, due within one month of submission, with the remaining €45,000 following within two months of AIP. There is no additional named due-diligence charge in the First Schedule. Adding a further €15,000 on top of the €60,000, as some summaries do, double counts the same euro.
Does the rent floor still differ between the north and the south of Malta?
Not since L.N. 310 of 2024. The current definition of qualifying rented property in regulation 3 sets a single floor of not less than €14,000 a year for a property situated in Malta or Gozo, with no geographic split. A page still quoting €12,000 in the south or a €16,000 northern figure is describing a version of the programme that no longer exists, whichever direction it rounds.
What about the residence card fee and the agent's professional fee?
Both sit outside the First Schedule, and we are not going to invent a number for either. The Agency's own legal-framework page and its 2024 FAQ PDF disagree with each other on the card fee, one saying roughly €500 for five years and the other €137.50 for five years, and the Schedule itself is silent, so we log it as an open clash rather than pick a side. A licensed agent is mandatory under regulation 9, but the agent's fee to the client is not prescribed anywhere in the statute. The only agent-side figure in the Schedule is the agent's own annual licence fee to the Agency, which the Third Schedule sets at €5,000 a year, and that is the agent's cost of doing business, not a client-facing line.
Named gaps
- Residence card fee. The Agency's legal-framework page states roughly €500 for five years, its own 2024 FAQ PDF states €137.50 for five years, and the First Schedule is silent on the point. We treat this as unresolved rather than picking one figure.
- Licensed agent's professional fee to the client. Not prescribed anywhere in S.L. 217.26. The only agent-side figure in the Schedule is the agent's own €5,000 annual licence fee to the Agency under the Third Schedule, which is the agent's cost, not the applicant's.
- Duration of the Agency's due diligence between submission and AIP. Not fixed by the Schedule. Our application chapter's four-to-six month estimate is experience, not a statutory deadline.
- Health insurance premiums. Regulation 9(4)(d) requires cover matching what Maltese nationals normally have, without naming a premium, so no euro figure is given here for that line.
- A live first-person MPRP applicant thread describing the actual €15,000 payment and AIP wait was not found on this pass. Nothing on this page is sourced to a forum account.
Sources
- S.L. 217.26, Malta Permanent Residence Programme Regulations, consolidated by the Agency to include L.N. 310 of 2024 and L.N. 146 of 2025. residencymalta.gov.mt
- L.N. 146 of 2025, Malta Permanent Residence Programme (Amendment) Regulations, 2025, Government Gazette of Malta No. 21,472, 22 July 2025. residencymalta.gov.mt
- L.N. 146 of 2025, eLegislation record, point in time 22 July 2025. legislation.mt
- Residency Malta Agency, legal framework page for the MPRP. residencymalta.gov.mt
- MPRP FAQs V2.6.5, September 2024, kept live for the pre-L.N. 146 comparison. residencymalta.gov.mt
- Corporate brochure, January 2025, kept live for the pre-L.N. 146 comparison. residencymalta.gov.mt
- Our own Malta cost chapter, which this extra corrects on the household ceiling and the USD calculator.
- Our companion extra on what is actually open in Malta covers the citizenship-by-merit and CBI side of the programme, which this page does not touch.
- Methodology: every page above opened, or attempted and recorded as blocked, on 21 August 2026.
Not legal advice. Figures here reflect S.L. 217.26 as amended by L.N. 310 of 2024 and L.N. 146 of 2025, as available on 21 August 2026. The residence card fee is an open clash between two Agency pages and is not resolved here. Confirm current figures and payment dates with a licensed agent before wiring anything.