If you start working in Malta, the first thing you notice is how informal the first conversation feels and how formal the paperwork is behind it. The job interview is in English, the manager uses your first name, and then a form goes to Jobsplus on your first day. Working in Malta as a European is simple, as long as you know your rights.
Can you work in Malta without a permit?
As an EU or EEA citizen, yes. Your employer declares your engagement to Jobsplus with the engagement form, and for a first job in Malta that same declaration sets in motion your social security number (see social security and tax numbers in Malta). You can download your employment history from the Jobsplus website to check it. If you stay more than three months, register your residence; the eResidence card guide explains how. Swiss citizens apply for their residence on the employee and self-employed form, and British citizens who arrive now need a work authorisation; see moving to Malta from the UK.
How do you find a job and start working in Malta?
Working in Malta begins with the search. The labour market is small, English is the language of most offices, so register with Jobsplus early. A good rule is to line up a contract before your move, then arrive with your documents ready. Our Malta checklist shows how the job fits in the order of the paperwork.
From abroad, contact EURES Malta, the European employment advisers hosted by Jobsplus. On the island, register with Jobsplus online or at a Jobcentre, preferably by appointment. If your profession is regulated (health, law, architecture, teaching), you also need authorisation from the professional authority, and an employer may ask for your qualifications to be recognised by the MQRIC, the qualifications recognition centre within the MFHEA. Recognition is online only, and the fee is €15 (course already in the database), €30 (new Maltese course) or €65 (new foreign course).
What does a Maltese employment contract contain?
Contracts can be permanent or fixed-term, full-time or part-time. Your employer must give you written information on your conditions no later than seven days after you start, in English or Maltese.
- Probation: six months, or twelve for posts paid at least twice the minimum wage. For fixed-term contracts of six to fifteen months: two months per six-month block. During probation, either side can end the contract without reason, with one week's notice after the first month.
- Working time: 40 hours a week as a rule; no more than 48 on average over 17 weeks unless you agree in writing. Rest: 11 hours a day and 24 hours a week. Overtime beyond 40 hours (averaged over four weeks) is paid at least 1.5 times, unless a wage regulation order says otherwise.
- Pay: at least every four weeks.
- Notice for permanent contracts: one week (one to six months of service), two weeks (six months to two years), four weeks (two to four years), eight weeks (four to seven years), then nine, ten and eleven weeks, and twelve weeks beyond ten years. An employer can dismiss only for a valid reason or redundancy.
How much do you earn and how many days off do you get?
The 2026 national minimum wage is €229.44 gross per week for 40 hours at 18 or over. Two statutory bonuses of €135.10 and two weekly allowances of €121.16 are paid each year, according to the DIER. Check them with your employer for 2026. A cost-of-living adjustment is mandatory each year. More on the budget side in cost of living in Malta.
Paid leave in 2026 is 192 hours of annual leave plus a day for each public holiday falling on a rest day, so 216 hours for a 40-hour week. It applies from the start of the contract. Leave is taken in whole days, half can be carried over once by agreement, and at least four weeks must be taken as leave, not paid out, except at the end of the contract. Malta has 14 public holidays; see daily life in Malta.
What happens if you lose your job?
Register with Jobsplus in part 1 of the register (unemployed people seeking full-time work); your unemployment benefit claim then starts automatically. If you paid contributions elsewhere in the EU, bring form U1 from that country. The benefit from January 2026 is 60% of pay for the first 10 weeks, 55% for the next 10 and 50% for the last 6, paid six days a week, with daily minimums and maximums (€20.64 to €36.14 at the start). You need 50 paid contributions since you registered (at least one in Malta) and 20 paid or credited in the last two calendar years; 156 contributions secure the full 156 days. If you receive unemployment benefit from another EU country and want to look for work in Malta, form U2 lets you do so for three to six months, registering with Jobsplus within seven days.
An unfair dismissal claim goes to the Industrial Tribunal within four months. For breaches of employment law you can complain to the DIER, which since 6 August 2025 has two years to prosecute.
What are the traps of working in Malta as an employee?
- Resigning and expecting benefit. Resigning means no unemployment benefit.
- Leaving a fixed-term contract early. You owe half the remaining salary; likewise if the employer ends it early, he owes you half.
- Leaving without notice on a permanent contract. You owe half the pay of the notice period.
- Working while registered unemployed. Without Jobsplus approval, you are struck off for six months.
- A short fixed-term contract with no written reason. The law requires an objective reason in writing.
- Serial fixed-term contracts. After four years with the same employer, the contract becomes permanent in principle.
- Forgetting form U1 before leaving your country.
What if you want to work for yourself?
EU citizens can be self-employed without a permit. You file the Jobsplus engagement form as self-employed, register for VAT under article 10, 11 or 12 (the small-business exemption applies up to €35,000 of turnover), and pay class 2 contributions: €36.18 a week at the lowest level in 2026, then 15% of net income, capped at €83.89 a week (for those born from 1962). A 10% flat tax on up to €12,000 of profit exists for part-time self-employment alongside a full-time job, retirement or full-time study. Your income tax and provisional tax follow the usual rules, and the MTCA's registration page for the self-employed lists the steps.
Remote workers who keep a foreign employer have a separate set of rules: see remote work in Malta.