Updated 1pm
Identity Malta’s expatriate unit was shut without warning on Wednesday morning as workers, fearing the global coronavirus outbreak, told management they felt uncomfortable working with hundreds of foreigners.
Sources at the agency said the employees at the Msida-based unit gave no prior warning, leaving queues of well over 100 people outside.
"They just woke up this morning and decided they didn't want to work with foreigners," a source told Times of Malta.
The office was due to open at 7.30am. It eventually re-opened shortly after 11am, prompting a rush of people pushing to get inside.
Identity Malta's expatriate unit is responsible for issuing residence papers and other documentation to third-country nationals living in Malta.
The office was reopened after a workers' union and the agency agreed on a series of measures to protect workers from COVID-19 transmission.
The protective measures, which will be implemented this very week, include better crowd control, medical screening, increased security, and the introduction of perspex screens.
Identity Malta's customer care desk will be closed as of Thursday, with people instead directed to call 2590 4800 email eresidence.ima@gov.mt.
Parliamentary secretary for citizenship Alex Muscat said workers' concerns were "justified".
General Workers Union secretary Kendrick Bondin said the main issue was crowd control. To address that, people will be ushered into the office in batches and Identity Malta would be encouraging its phone and online services, he said.
Dismay and ruined plans
Identity Malta had announced on Tuesday, via Facebook, that its expatriate office customer care desk would be “temporarily closed” as of Thursday, March 12, without explaining why.
That prompted an even larger crowd to gather outside its offices on Wednesday morning, when they found doors sealed shut.
A woman who was there at 6.30am told Times of Malta that she had found people who had been there for an hour or two already. A guard told her that the offices would open, but at about 8.30am word spread that the workers had gone on strike.
A Pakistani national who came to the agency this morning at 5am to get ahead of the queue said there were queues out onto the road at dawn but people had left.
He preferred not to be named and said he needed to lodge a work permit and thought it unfair that Identity Malta didn't notify them at all.
Gary Morton, who flew in from Los Angeles to attend an appointment at the agency said he had been given no notification of the agency closing.
He said a staff member simply told him the ministers were in a meeting and the shop would be closed till they received further information.
People waiting at Identity Malta's expatriate unit in Msida. Scroll right to see more photos. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
People waiting at Identity Malta's expatriate unit in Msida. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
People waiting at Identity Malta's expatriate unit in Msida. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
People waiting at Identity Malta's expatriate unit in Msida. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Alexandra Micallef, said it was a disgrace that people had been waiting here for so long.
"The Maltese government is a disgrace to leave this many people waiting so close to each other for such a long. They are going to get sick and then infect us and then they say "everything is under control".
Rita Camilleri had a different opinion. She also came to Identity Malta to visit customer care but said she couldn't get in.
She said she supported the staff striking if they were taking precautions against transmission of the coronavirus.
"They come into contact with a lot it people ever day and they should take precautions."