Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme has taken the top spot in the Henley and Partners Global Citizenship Program Index rankings for the tenth consecutive year.
Henley and Partners is Malta’s concessionaire for the scheme, which was introduced by the Labour government in 2013 and then amended in 2020.
In its annual rankings, Malta narrowly beat Austria by one point to secure the top place with a score of 76 out of 100. The country scored top marks in “visa-free or visa-on-arrival access”, compliance and “relocation flexibility.”
European Union countries like Malta scored highly on relocation due to EU citizens being able to live anywhere across the bloc.
Malta scored its lowest mark in reputation (six out of 10), processing time and investment requirements (both five out of 10).
The rankings were published as part of the firm’s Investment Migration Programs Report 2025.
Malta’s ‘Citizenship by Naturalisation for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment scheme’, as amended in 2020, allows non-EU nationals to obtain Maltese citizenship by making substantial financial contributions to the country.
Also known as the golden passport scheme, citizenship-by-investment in Malta costs between €690,000 and €1.46 million.
Other high-ranking countries for citizenship-by-investment included Grenada (69), Antigua and Barbuda (67) in the Caribbean and Micronesian state Nauru (66).
The investment schemes offered by each country were appraised by academics, country risk specialists, economists, immigration and citizenship lawyers and “other specialists”, according to Henley and Partners.
While Malta ranked highest for citizenship by investment, it failed to secure one of the top 10 places in the company’s Global Residence Program Index, released in the same report. Achieving a score of 62 out of 100, Malta ranked 11th on the residency index.
Malta has faced pressure from the European Commission (EC) to scrap its golden passport scheme over security concerns.
But in October the EU’s Advocate General said the EC had failed to prove that union rules on citizenship require "a genuine link" or "prior genuine link" to grant citizenship.
Advocate General Anthony Collins noted that the issue of nationality falls under the sovereignty of individual member states, which retain the right to set their own conditions to grant citizenship.
While a final judgement on the case is yet to be delivered, Collins’ opinion has been interpreted as a sign Malta will be able to retain its citizenship-by-investment programme.
In 2023, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told Parliament that more than 1,500 applicants had become citizens through investment since the scheme, formerly the Individual Investor Programme, opened in 2014.