Times of Malta on December 15, 2019, broke the story titled ‘No room at the inn – 22 children are facing eviction from Malta’.
The story not only highlighted the plight of the Serbian community that decided to raise its voice but to a reality faced by every third county national with family living in Malta.
These non-EU families were told by Identity Malta they can no longer keep their children here since they do not have enough money to sustain them. It appears that Identity Malta sent out letters refusing the residence permits of these 22 children, some as young as two years old, saying that from the date of receipt of these letters, the minors would be in Malta illegally.
As third country nationals, the parents need to earn €19,000 a year, as well as €3,800 extra for each child in Malta. The rules limit the income declaration to “basic pay”, excluding bonuses or overtime.
This policy used to be waived “at the sole discretion of the director” if both parents were in employment but did not reach the amount stipulated. It was also reported that, prior to this year, this was often the case for many third country nationals who worked in low-paid jobs.
The Times of Malta reported that this situation changed last September, when many families stopped being allowed to lodge applications to extend their children’s stay because their earnings failed to meet the financial requirements of the policy.
It appears that many parents have been refused permits for their children even when their combined annual salaries fell short by as little as €143. This means that a family of two parents and two children living in Malta and earning €26,457 a year, falling short of the €26,600 required, have to send their children away (as the parents would still be allowed to stay in Malta).
The question immediately arises: away where?
Everyone has a fundamental rightto family
With some families having lived in Malta with their children for a number of years, this situation smacks of inhumanity. The government has defended its position by stating that the laws about residence permits are designed to guarantee a decent living for children (Parliamentary Secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli’s Facebook post).
The Church, organisations and people at large have aired their disapproval at the expulsion of these 22 children. Archbishop Charles Scicluna also made an appeal to all parishes, religious congregations and Catholic groups and societies to consider “adopting” these children by guaranteeing their funding, if need be. Caritas has been tasked to open a fund to receive donations for this purpose.
Unfortunately, such a fund cannot fill the gap of the shortfalls these families have in their declarations, not because the amounts needed cannot be collected but simply because donations are not part of a person’s basic wage, which seems to be the sole criterion.
From discussions that Caritas had with employer bodies, supplementing the basic pay with this fund would cause an inequality: why would a third country national with children receive €200 extra to make up for the shortfall and not a Maltese or EU resident in the same financial situation?
The issue exposes a far bigger problem. If the government is saying that to live decently as a family in Malta, and to protect the well-being of children of a third country national, such families need to earn €19,000 a year, as well as €3,800 for every child, why is our minimum wage €757.64 per month or €9,091.68 per annum, irrespective of the number of children that households have?
This implies that any family of two Maltese parents working on the minimum wage should not be allowed to have children because at their income of €18,183.36 they fall short by €816.64, and if they already have one child they fall short of the threshold by €4,616.64. The children’s allowance does not compensate.
This situation poses a number of serious policy questions that need to be answered.
Are the thresholds really set to protect children or are they a means to ensure that we import only cheap labour, denying these workers the right to be accompanied by their families?
Do Maltese families earn the amount needed to live decently through their basic pay and social benefits – between €22,800 and €30,400 for a family of one to three children? I reckon not.
How are we ensuring that the agencies “importing” third-country workers respect their rights, so they will earn a decent living rather than falling into financial slavery? One also has to consider the racket of unfair commissions.
Why are the recruitment efforts to “import workers” more focused on third countries rather than EU countries? Have we decided that they deserve no protection?
I urge the government to give this issue a serious rethink, to treat these families with humanity and to remember that everyone has a fundamental right to family. But it must also acknowledge that the way third country nationals are enticed to work in Malta is akin to modern slavery.
Tonio Fenech is coordinator, Catholic Voices Malta.