The primary law governing nationality of Malta is the Maltese Citizenship Act (), which came into force on 21 September 1964. Malta is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all Maltese nationals are EU citizens. They are entitled to free movement rights in EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, and may vote in elections to the European Parliament for the Malta constituency.
All persons born in Malta between 21 September 1964 and 1 August 1989 automatically received citizenship at birth regardless of the nationalities of their parents. Individuals born in the country since that date receive Maltese citizenship at birth if at least one of their parents is a Maltese citizen or was born in Malta. Foreign nationals may become Maltese citizens by naturalisation after meeting a minimum residence requirement (at least four of the previous seven years).
Malta was a colony of the British Empire until 1964, and local residents were British subjects. Although Maltese citizens no longer hold British nationality, they remain Commonwealth citizens under British law. When residing in the United Kingdom, Maltese citizens are eligible to vote in UK elections and serve in public office there.
Terminology The distinction between citizenship and nationality is not always clear in the English language and differs by country. Generally, nationality refers to a person's legal belonging to a sovereign state and is the common term used in international treaties when referring to members of a country, while citizenship usually means the set of rights and duties a person has in that nation. In Maltese legislation, the term "citizenship" () is used to refer to state membership. Apart from the Maltese Citizenship Act, "nationality" () is used in other laws but refers only generically to a person's origin rather than to a specific status. While no authoritative definition exists for either term in Maltese law, "citizenship" would be the technical term used in domestic legislation to refer to members of the national constituency.
History Early modern period and colonial era
In 1530, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, granted the archipelago of Malta as a fiefdom to the Knights Hospitaller. Although local residents resented being placed under Hospitaller jurisdiction without consultation, the Knights maintained their rule over the islands for the next 268 years until the French invasion of Malta in 1798. After the local population revolted and expelled the French in 1800, Malta came under British control as a protectorate that year. The 1814 Treaty of Paris formally granted Britain full sovereignty over the territory, which became a crown colony the same year. Accordingly, British nationality law applied to the colony, as was the case elsewhere in the British Empire. The Maltese, like other subjects of the Empire, were British subjects; any person born in Malta, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else within Crown dominions was a natural-born British subject.
British nationality law during this time was uncodified and did not have a standard set of regulations, relying instead on past precedent and common law. Until the mid-19th century, it was unclear whether rules for naturalisation in the United Kingdom were applicable elsewhere in the British Empire. Colonies had wide discretion in developing their own procedures and requirements for naturalisation up to that point. In 1847, the Imperial Parliament formalised a clear distinction between subjects who naturalised in the UK and those who did so in other territories. Individuals who naturalised in the UK were deemed to have received the status by imperial naturalisation, which was valid throughout the Empire. Those naturalising in colonies were said to have gone through local naturalisation and were given subject status valid only within the relevant territory; a subject who locally naturalised in Malta was a British subject there, but not in the UK or Canada. When travelling outside the Empire, British subjects who were locally naturalised in a colony were still entitled to imperial protection.
British subject status was standardised as a common nationality across the Empire and its Dominions with passage of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914. Although Malta was granted self-governance in 1921, nationality and naturalisation remained under the jurisdiction of the imperial government as reserved matters. Areas of public policy that were deemed to be reserved matters could not be changed under local legislation but only by Westminster.
The 1914 regulations codified the doctrine of coverture into imperial nationality law, under which a woman's consent to marry a foreigner was also assumed to be intent to denaturalise; British women who married foreign men automatically lost their British nationality. A wife married to a husband who lost his British subject status was able to exceptionally retain British nationality by declaration. British-born widows or divorcées who had lost their British nationality through marriage could reacquire that status without meeting residence requirements after their marriage ended.
Imperial nationality law was comprehensively reformed in 1948. The British Nationality Act 1948 redefined British subject to mean any citizen of the United Kingdom, its colonies, or other Commonwealth countries. Commonwealth citizen was first defined in this Act to have the same meaning. While previously all subjects of the Empire held a common status through allegiance to the Crown, each Commonwealth country under the reformed system became responsible for legislating its own nationality laws and would maintain a common status by voluntary agreement among all the member states. British subjects under the previous meaning who held that status on 1 January 1949 because of a connection with the United Kingdom or a remaining colony (including Malta) became Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC). The 1948 Act also repealed marital denaturalisation; women who married foreign men no longer lost British nationality upon marriage.
Changing relationship with Britain Commonwealth citizens initially held an automatic right to settle in the United Kingdom and Ireland under the reformed system of 1948. British authorities systematically discouraged non-white immigration into the UK, but strong economic conditions in Britain following the Second World War attracted an unprecedented wave of colonial migration. In response, the British Parliament imposed immigration controls on any subjects originating from outside the British Islands with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962. Ireland had continued to allow free movement to all British subjects following its independence in 1922 as part of the Common Travel Area arrangement, but moved to mirror Britain's restriction in 1962 by limiting this ability only to people born in the British Isles. Britain somewhat relaxed these measures in 1971 for patrials, subjects whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom.
Malta's finances were strained after the Second World War, and the colony came close to bankruptcy in 1951. The circumstances prompted substantial debate over the territory's future. Although a plurality of voters chose a closer union with Britain in a 1956 referendum, disagreements between the British and Maltese governments over the UK's financial contributions to the territory after integration ultimately led to a collapse of negotiations. The 1957 Defence White Paper restructured British defence policy, deprioritising further military investment in Malta. Maltese government ministers responded by shifting their efforts from pursuing integration to demanding independence.
Malta became independent on 21 September 1964 and the citizenship provisions of the Constitution of Malta came into force on the same day. Any CUKC born in Malta automatically acquired Maltese citizenship on that date if at least one parent was also born in the country. Those born overseas acquired it if their father and a paternal grandparent were both born in Malta.
Post-independence regulations
Individuals born in Malta after independence automatically received citizenship at birth regardless of the nationalities of their parents. Citizenship was transferable by descent to one generation of children born overseas to Maltese fathers or unmarried Maltese mothers. Foreign women married to Maltese men could acquire citizenship by registration with no further requirements. Under the Maltese Citizenship Act enacted in 1965, Commonwealth citizens were also eligible to become citizens by registration after residing in Malta for five years while all other foreign citizens could naturalise after six years of residence.
Holding multiple citizenships was constitutionally prohibited, and any adult citizen who held other nationalities was required to renounce them by 21 September 1967. Maltese children with multiple nationalities were required to choose between their Maltese and foreign statuses within one year after reaching age 18. Any adult citizen who naturalised as a foreign citizen automatically lost their Maltese citizenship, and foreigners who acquired Maltese citizenship were required to renounce their foreign nationalities. Until 1 January 1977, children adopted by Maltese citizens automatically acquired citizenship on the date of their adoption.
Preferences afforded to Commonwealth citizens were abolished in 1989; the residence requirement for naturalisation was reduced to five years and Commonwealth citizens have since been treated in the same way as other foreign citizens. Commonwealth and Irish citizens are still classified in Maltese law as non-foreign, but there are no benefits provided to either group., Article 24. The UK itself updated its nationality law to reflect the reduced extent of its remaining territories and possessions with the British Nationality Act 1981, which redefined British subject to no longer also mean Commonwealth citizen.
Expanded citizenship access for Maltese diaspora In line with a global shift in citizenship law, reforms in 1989 moved the basis for acquiring Maltese citizenship from a doctrine of birthright to that of descent. Unrestricted birthright citizenship was ended in that year and children born in the country since 1 August 1989 are only granted citizenship by birth if at least one parent is a citizen or was also born in Malta. Gender imbalances were removed from legislation as well; citizenship became transferable by descent to children through mothers as well as fathers, and foreign husbands of Maltese women became eligible for citizenship by registration. Automatic acquisition of citizenship by adoption was reintroduced that year, but only for children younger than age 10.
Maltese-born persons were allowed to hold other nationalities in limited circumstances from 1989. Although Maltese citizens still automatically lost citizenship when they naturalised elsewhere, former citizens who were born in Malta and who had been resident in the country of their new citizenship for at least six years became eligible to reacquire Maltese citizenship. Someone who resumed their Maltese citizenship through this method is considered to have never ceased being a citizen. Consequently, children born before 1989 to a formerly Maltese father who subsequently reacquired Maltese citizenship under this provision also became Maltese citizens, backdated to their dates of birth.