12 October, 2026
Malta citizenship by investment has ended. What are your options now?
After the EU Court of Justice ruling of April 2025, Malta no longer sells citizenship. What replaced it, and what remains for investors.
If you are still reading about “Malta citizenship by investment” with a price list, the information is out of date.
What happened
In Commission v Malta (Case C-181/23), the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in April 2025 that Malta’s 2020 investor citizenship scheme infringed EU law. The Court found that the scheme amounted to commercialising the grant of a Member State’s nationality and, by extension, of Union citizenship. Malta subsequently reformed its framework: exceptional naturalisation is now granted by merit, case by case, under the Citizenship Act.
What “by merit” means
There is no price list and no entitlement. The decision is discretionary and assessed individually by the Community Malta Agency. It is not a program you can buy into, and we do not present it as one.
What remains for investors: residence
The Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP), run by the Residency Malta Agency, still exists. It gives permanent residence, not a passport, and requires a qualifying property (purchase from €375,000 or rental from €14,000 a year), an administrative fee of €60,000, a government contribution of €37,000, a €2,000 donation and proof of capital. Full details on our Malta page.
If citizenship is your goal
Compare the programs that are open: among those we cover, Grenada grants citizenship (with its own risks), while the European programs grant residence. Our guide to residency versus citizenship explains the trade-offs.
Sources
- Court of Justice of the EU: press release, Commission v Malta
- EUR-Lex: judgment in Case C-181/23
- Community Malta Agency: Citizenship by naturalisation on the basis of merit
- Residency Malta Agency: MPRP
Last verified against the sources below on 11 October 2026. Programs change; always confirm the current rules before investing. This article is general information, not legal or tax advice.
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