New Arrival in Malta: Sorting out the Paperwork

This is a special guest post from Ali, a new arrival to these shores from the UK.  Like all of us she had to go through the grind of getting that paperwork done, and here is how she got on:

Getting Official Paperwork done in Malta – Part 1

Having lived in Malta on and off for two years while I was working on a superyacht based on the island and after what felt like the longest winter ever back in the UK, my partner and I decided to take the leap and move to the sunshine permanently.

There was one condition: one of us had to get a job before we moved. And as luck (or several months of applying for jobs from the UK) would have it, I secured a job in Malta at the end of May. I arrived last week in order to settle in, move into our apartment and get the official paperwork completed.

As a British citizen and EU member I didn’t need a visa, so that was easy.

With the job offer I was asked to obtain a Police Conduct Certificate which again was very straightforward. There was one person in front of me in the queue, I handed over my passport, and less than five minutes later I had a shiny certificate saying I was a “person of good conduct”.

I was also asked by my employer to obtain my Employee Registration Number, also known as your Tax Registration Code, a Social Security Number (National Insurance number to my fellow Brits) and I am also required to open a Maltese bank account. ‘No problem’, I think to myself, based on the ease at which I obtained my PCC.

I couldn’t have been more wrong!

To get a tax code, I need a social security number.

To open a bank account, I need a social security number and my employment contract (and various other things, this is why there will be a part two to this post!).

To get an ID Card, I need my employment contract.

To get a social security number, I need my employment contract.

So the first hurdle is actually getting my employment contract (or actually getting a job) and what do my new employers say? “We’ll give you your contract on your first day at work.” Really?!

Now bear in mind, I’ve arrived mid-June and don’t start work until mid-July (I came out early to sort an apartment as well as do the paperwork), so NOT having my employment contract effectively stops me from organising ANYTHING.

Cue a very polite email to my employer to explain that I need my contract in order to complete the paperwork, which I am having to do myself, in my own time and that if I wait until I start work to receive the contract, I’ll then need to take time off work to queue up at the various government departments to get the paperwork done then. If they withhold the contract, I will need to take time off work OR if they give it to me now I don’t need to take time off work. Simple, right?

Thankfully my employer saw sense and I picked up my employment contract in advance that same afternoon.

So, the next step is to get my social security number. I decide I’ll go in person to the local council office in Msida, as it covers where I am staying temporarily (Gzira) and where my new apartment is (Msida) with my employment contract and passport in hand.

I arrive to find it’s not the right office, in fact there is a different office just around the corner. So I walk there and there is no queue (amazing!) and go through and hand over my documents. ‘I need a copy of your employment contract, not the original’, says the lady behind the screen. ‘Can’t you copy it here?’ I ask. And, as blunt as the knives in my rental apartment, she says, ‘No’.

Oh. So, I leave again in search of a copy place; I find one, it’s closed – typical. Eventually I convince a nice man in a shop further down the road to copy it for me and head back to the Sigurta Sociali office. When I arrive back there is still no queue so I go through and minutes later I have my social security number printed on a piece of paper. Brilliant.

I now have my social security number. Next steps: Tax Registration Code, ID card and bank account.