Malta's high commission in New Delhi, India, over the past year issued 13,140 travel visas, Foreign Minister Ian Borg said in reply to a parliamentary question on Monday.

Replying to a question by Nationalist MP Charles Azzopardi, the minister gave a month-by-month breakdown of the number of visas issued. The highest was last July, when 2,940 visas were issued. 

Times of Malta reported in June that RecruitGiant, one of Malta’s leading recruiters of third country national employees, had opened a new office in New Delhi. 

The office's role is to provide on-the-ground assistance to Indian nationals seeking work visas in Malta. 

In August, the Indian Minister for State for Foreign Affairs and Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi, visited Malta and discussed trade and political relations with Foreign Minister Ian Borg.  

Also in August, Times of Malta reported how Indian food couriers were told it would cost them €5,000 to come and work in Malta and they would be paid more than €1,000 a month working 40-hour weeks.

But some of them ended up more than €8,000 out of pocket, and most don’t even manage a minimum wage while working 80-hour weeks.