Juan and his family moved to Malta almost two years ago. One of their children, nine years old, is still unable to go to school. Another, 13, missed an entire scholastic year.
The family is not alone: dozens of families who have legally moved to Malta have children frozen out of school because of a paperwork limbo that is out of their control, new research by the Archdiocese of Malta suggests.
While it is difficult to quantify the exact number of children caught in this document limbo, the research carried out by the Curia based on experiences shared by community leaders suggest there are dozens of children of various nationalities, including Colombians and Serbians.
Core to the problem is a family reunification policy which can sometimes result in parents falling short of stipulated wage minimums.
Third-country (non-EU) nationals with a single work permit can bring a relative to Malta if they earn 20 per cent per dependent more than the average or median salary in Malta. Currently, that ranges between €18,000 and €23,100.
An issue arises when the average or median is recalculated – resulting in families no longer hitting that extra 20 per cent target. This can lead to a renewal rejection.
In Juan’s case, delays in processing his wife’s work permit meant he was unable to list her income when applying for the children’s residency permits.
Without permits, they had no way of getting into public schools.
The Church-led report cites multiple such cases. Representatives of various communities told report-writers some third-country nationals have no choice but to leave their children at home alone, while they go to work.
Some families get by with the support of community members that take turns to look after the children. Others have the support of employers who allow workers to take their children to work. In some cases, schools find a way of accommodating the children. But many have no choice – they have to go to work and have nowhere to leave their young children.
Backed by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Malta, these third-country nationals are calling for a change to a more humane family reunification policy that would put an end to this situation.
Titled Beyond GDP II: Third-Country Nationals in Malta: Sharing in our Economic Future, the Justice and Peace Commission report builds on the foundational work of Beyond GDP (2020), which initiated a critical discussion on assessing a country’s success through metrics that go beyond GDP figures.
Data shows that third-country nationals make up 20 per cent of the workforce in Malta, filling gaps that are key to maintaining a thriving economy, yet many are facing daily challenges that remain ignored. According to the report, TCN workers face an “imbalanced power dynamic”.
The core findings echo a reality exposed by Times of Malta back in 2019 when a group of non-EU families residing in Malta were told by Identity Malta – now Identità – that they could no longer keep their children here, since they did not have enough money to sustain them.
Daniel Darmanin, president of the Justice and Peace Commission, said: “The point we wanted to make is that sometimes we make decisions for our economy and bend our own rules, and let people in faster because we need workers and don’t want our economy to stagnate. But when we want to close the tap, we don’t consider these people. The Church believes that, first and foremost, we are dealing with human beings and not an economical machine we can switch on and off. That is why we want policies and attitudes to be more humane.”
He said that research also highlighted a discrepancy in the way different nationalities and different people are being treated.
Economist Maria Giulia Borg, who contributed to the research, noted these were issues faced by many different communities. “At the moment it depends on who they know and their networks. There is a lack of consistency and this needs to change.”
Questions on the matter were sent to Identità. No replies were received by the time of writing.
The interviews were carried out before the government launched its labour migration policy
‘The parks in Malta are for kids. In Colombia they’re for gangs’
Families who spoke to Times of Malta noted the arbitrary nature in which applications are processed – an argument that emerged in the Church report.
The Colombian families spoke about the struggles they had to face to be with their children. They did not know each other before coming to Malta – but all say they left their home country for the same reason: to offer their families a safe place.
They preferred not to reveal their identities out of fear of repercussions.
“In Colombia, there is violence and sexual violence in all corners. If you are living in Europe, you cannot understand what it feels like. You are going out and in the corner someone can kill you – they come with a gun to take my cell phone,” Eduardo said.
Dario added: “When we arrived in Malta, the first thing me and my wife did was put on our wedding ring after 10 years… Here the parks are for the kids. There they are for the gangs.”
No paper, no school
Edwardo, 46, came to Malta with his wife and their 11-year-old son four years ago. Both he and his wife work and applied for their child’s residency permit using their joint income.
The application was initially accepted. But when the time came for renewal, it was rejected due to a mistake in the paperwork – only his income was calculated.
That was months ago and the family is waiting for the mistake to be sorted out. Meanwhile, thankfully, the child’s school is accepting to keep him.
“We could not go to Colombia to visit family at Christmas but it’s okay, we are here together,” Eduardo said.
Dario adds that at least half the Colombian families in Malta are not as lucky – “the children are at home because if there is no paper for the kids, there is no school”.
Dario, 41, came to Malta with his wife and child three years ago. They consider themselves lucky because they never faced issues with the paperwork. Now he is helping other people in his community.
Johanna, 38, came with her husband and their two children, aged 14 and 11, two years ago. The children spent a year out of school. They still do not have their residence permits for the children. Their application was refused because, when their parents applied, the children were already in Malta.
Thankfully for them, the schools were more humane and allowed the children in.
“For a long time they remained at home alone but my boss was amazing and allowed me to take them to the hotel,” said Johanna, a therapist.
She is aware that “it is important for their mental health to keep a family together”. She is, however, concerned because of the bullying they face in school for being “illegals”.
Eduardo adds: “This rule needs to change: that you need to apply for the children when they are not in Malta. It does not make sense with children. They are attached to you. It makes sense with a wife or other family – but not with children.”
All families also spoke about the costs they faced each time they had to apply for a renewal or an appeal. They agree that another urgent change needed is to the rule that gives TCNs only 10 days to find a new job if something goes wrong – when their residency is attached to their job. This is being addressed in the ongoing TCN policy recently launched for consultation that recommends extending the 10-day limit to 60 days.