Almost 30 children were denied the chance to reunite with their parents in the last two years. 

“I am informed that since May 1, 2021 there were 27 applications that were refused because they did not meet the established criteria in the mentioned policy,” home affairs minister Byron Camilleri said on Tuesday.  

Camilleri was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg who asked how many children and youth under 18 years who sought to reunite with their families were refused residence.

Third-country nationals working in Malta can apply to bring over immediate family members, including children. However, “sponsors” must prove they have “stable” resources. 

An Identity Malta policy paper says these “should be equivalent to the median wage - €15,354 - plus 20% of the said median wage for each family member”. 

In January, Camilleri said children of third-country nationals working in Malta are only deported when irregular methods were used to bring them to the country. 

“No child is deported when migration is through the proper channels. Deportations occur when a person enters Malta through a tourist visa but expects to stay here,” he said. 

Although the government wanted migrants to live and work in Malta and be with their families, people should not be encouraged to migrate to Malta and live in poverty.  

The minister added that the family reunification policy was expanded recently to allow more people to bring their relatives.  

Just before Christmas in 2019, Times of Malta had reported about the plight of 41 children who were denied residence permits because their parents did not meet income criteria.

Two years later, the immigration appeals board revoked the Identity Malta decision for 18 children.

A Georgian single mother, Khatia Pipia, had been fighting to keep her seven-year-old son in Malta after Identity Malta denied the residence request.

The child was already in Malta and had started school. He was learning English and Maltese.

The single mother took her case to the Immigration Appeals board which upheld the Identity Malta decision. She then went to court as a last resort.  

The court annulled the Immigration Appeals Board decision and asked it to reconsider, taking into account the impact on the child if he were to be separated from his only parent.