Malta has started to grant citizenship to Individual Investor Programme (IIP) applicants, with Maltese passports being given to 13 of the 573 foreign investors who have applied so far.
The figures were revealed by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela in response to a parliamentary question by an Opposition MP.
Abela also said the government was aware of its obligation to publish the full list of new citizens in the Maltese government gazette, but that he was not able to confirm when they will be published.
Anonymity for applicants was an important selling point of Malta’s IIP but following strong opposition, the Maltese government backtracked and agreed to publish an annual list of people granted Maltese citizenship by registration or naturalization. However the list will not make any distinction between naturalized citizens and those who have been granted Maltese citizenship under the IIP program.
The list of naturalized citizens for 2015 will include successful IIP applicants for the first time, as the IIP started in 2014 and applicants are granted citizenship after 12 months of residency.
Abela also said that a total of 38 people obtained Maltese citizenship by naturalization in 2014, compared to 52 in 2013 and 111 in 2012.
Earlier, Malta’s IIP regulator revealed that that 81 of the 573 applicants already had more than one nationality, and over half of the total number of applications were made by Russian citizens.
Source: Malta Today