Three Turkish men employed on a government construction project are facing deportation after their employer failed to apply for their residence permits.

They fear they may soon face the same fate as seven of their colleagues, who have already been deported from Malta. 

Enez Tasdemir, 34, and Ziya Dali, 20, were among workers employed by Harmony Homes Ltd, which was subcontracted to work on the Msida Primary School construction site by PRA Construction Limited, a company owned by construction moguls Joseph Portelli, Mark Agius and Daniel Refalo. 

Despite working on the Msida site for two months, from the end of December to February, the workers claim the owner of Harmony Homes, Senar Yildiz, did not apply for their work permits with Identità, leaving them without legal status in Malta. 

In a statement, PRA distanced themselves from their subcontractor, Harmony Homes, saying: “There is no way we can audit the employment and payment practices of every single contractor.” 

People from outside the EU need a permit to legally work in the country.  These permits are tied to a specific employer who must apply to the state agency for the permit. 

The foreign workers said that at first, they believed their paperwork was in order and expected to receive their work permits soon, not only because their employer had assured them of it but also because they were working on a government project. 

But after some weeks, Tasdemir, who had a previous employer in Malta, noticed something was off when he did not receive any news from Identità.

'Our papers were not submitted'

After Tasdemir spoke with his Maltese girlfriend, the couple asked Identità for information on his work permit status through a lawyer. 

But Identità said they had no application in his name. 

“Kindly note that we have no pending applications on behalf of the applicant,” Identità said in their reply dated February. 

“Whenever we confronted Senar about our permit he used to brush us off. Some days he would say, ‘ahh I sent the email’, and other days he would say: ‘I will take you to Identità myself’. It was nothing like the procedure we went through before. Then we spoke to a lawyer and to JobsPlus and Identità ourselves, who said our papers were not submitted,” Tasdemir said.

Dali and others soon realised they were in the same situation.  

Tasdemir and Dali then wrote to immigration police asking to regulate their status in Malta.

But an immigration police officer said the two workers need to leave the country: “I am directed to inform you that this request cannot be acceded to. Consequently, they are required to leave the Schengen area without further delay.” 

Tasdemir and Dali have now appealed the police’s decision with the Immigration Appeals Board. 

Around seven Turkish men who were in a similar situation have already left the country. 

Dali said the entire situation has had an emotional and psychological impact. 

“It is very difficult to live in a foreign country under these circumstances,” he said.

Replying to questions, Harmony Homes owner Yildiz said he applied for the workers’ permits in March but revoked the application after they expressed intent to leave the job. 

Yildiz said the Turkish workers were originally the employees of a company he had subcontracted and only in March had the Turkish workers asked to join his company officially. 

Despite this, Yildiz said it was he who paid their salaries via Revolut for January and February. 

Attempts to contact the Turkish workers’ “original employer” were unsuccessful, and Tasdemir and Dali said they never heard of the company they were supposedly employed by. 

Sources close to the project said the company mentioned by Yildiz was never involved in the project.

Contractor 'should be held accountable'

PRA, the company awarded the direct order to construct the Msida Primary School, said it is not responsible for ensuring subcontractors’ employees have legal work status. 

“PRA was awarded a contract to demolish and rebuild the Msida Primary School within six months after the previous contractor failed to deliver. Within that extremely tight deadline, we had to demolish and rebuild the school from scratch, which we did successfully,” a company spokesperson said. 

“We had almost 50 contractors working on this site, including Harmony Homes. The work by Harmony Homes was certified as compliant by the structural engineer. We paid for all the work in the proper way, by bank transfer,” a company spokesperson said.  

“Naturally, if one of these contractors breached employment regulations, they are the ones that should be held to account for it. There is no way we can audit the employment and payment practices of every single contractor,” they said. 

Questions were also sent to the education ministry who said the school building entity, Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools (FTS), has no legal relationship with Harmony Homes. 

“FTS has not contracted Harmony Homes Ltd. It is important to note that all contractors engaged by FTS are required to secure the necessary permits, visas, authorisations or licenses needed for the successful completion of any contracted work,” a spokesperson for the education ministry said.  

The contract to build the new Msida primary school was initially awarded to  C&F Building Contractors Ltd to complete works by 2019.

That deadline was missed, and in 2022, the partially built school was ordered to be demolished after FTS said the quality of the new building was not up to standard.

C&F’s contract was terminated, and the task of building the school was handed over to PRA Construction via a direct order worth €7 million.

The school finally opened last month.