migration

Enrico Letta met with Prime Minister Robert Abela on Monday. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Enrico Letta: Invest in Europe’s margins to stem the brain drain

Former Italian prime minister tasked with a reform of Europe’s single market

January 17, 2024| Neville Borg
Identità said it had to increase work permit fees to cover administrative and processing costs. Photo: Jonathan Borg

Identità increases work permit fees for non-EU workers

Third-country nationals must now pay €300 to apply for a permit to work in Malta

January 13, 2024| Daniel Ellul
Matteo Salvini is the head of the far-right League party and a partner in current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition. File photo: AFP

Salvini says he 'defended' Italy as he testifies in migrant trial

Former PM faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted

January 12, 2024| AFP
Dursa. Photos: Scott Allison

Creating sparks with refugees: an interview with Dursa Mama

Dursa is one of 15 refugees who formed Spark15 in 2015

January 11, 2024| Aaliyah Dublin
AFP file photo of map of migrants deadly shipwrecks during a demonstration in support to the victims of the deadly migrant shipwreck, off greek southern Peloponeese peninsula last year.

At least two dead after migrant boat sinks off Greek island, 16 missing

Last year a boat sank off Pylos in the Peloponnese, drowning 82 people

January 10, 2024| AFP
Migrants seen leaving Malta. Photo IOM.

Migrant departures exceeded arrivals last year - Byron Camilleri

Progress was made following system changes and talks with neighbouring countries and countries of origin and transit

January 8, 2024| Times of Malta
Skilled technical or managerial workers are eligible for the scheme. Photo: Shutterstock.

Fast-track scheme for specialist foreign workers begins

The 'Specialist Employee Initiative’ is for workers earning at least €25,000

January 5, 2024| James Cummings
AFP file photo of the border fence separating Morocco from Spain's North African Melilla enclave.

Morocco intercepts over 1,100 migrants near Spanish exclaves

175 arrested migrants were from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Yemen

January 1, 2024| AFP
The Ocean Viking at Civitavecchia in July, where it was detained for a first time. Photo: AFP

Italy detains Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship for 20 days

Ship and crew punished for having tried to rescue second group of people at sea

January 1, 2024| AFP, Times of Malta
Refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan queue with their jerrycans to collect drinking water from a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) distribution point at a refugee camp in Adre, Chad. Photo: AFP

More than 330 Sudanese tried fleeing Malta irregularly in past five years

Malta resumes decisions on Sudanese asylum applications

December 28, 2023| Sarah Carabott
This was the Sea-Eye's fifth mission of the year. Photo: Sea Eye

106 people, including 40 children, rescued in Malta waters to be taken to Italy

Sea-Eye urging for donations for its search-and-rescue missions in 2024

December 27, 2023| Times of Malta
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo (centre) said the skills card was postponed from January until the end of March to enable it to be fine-tuned.

Skills card for foreign workers postponed until March

The skills card comes at a cost to applicants

December 27, 2023| Jessica Arena
A Civil Protection vehicle parked outside Valtry Airport. Photo: AFP

Two held after France grounds plane over suspected 'human trafficking'

French authorities acted on an anonymous tip-off

December 22, 2023| AFP
A wooden cross made with the remains of a boat used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean sea is seen in the cemetry where victims of shipwrecks are buried in Lampedusa. Photo: AFP

EU migrant deal 'very positive step' - UN refugee chief

The EU has lauded the deal as a historic overhaul of its asylum system

December 20, 2023| AFP
The deal is "no magic wand", Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said. Photos: Shutterstock/Jonathan Borg

New EU migration pact is 'no magic wand', Byron Camilleri warns

Malta breaks ranks with border states Spain, Italy and Greece, which welcomed deal

December 20, 2023| Mark Laurence Zammit
NGOs said the deal "will cost more lives at sea". Photos: Shutterstock

EU lawmakers called it 'historic'. NGOs say it's a 'historic failure'

Critical reception for EU's new migration and asylum pact

December 20, 2023| AFP, Mark Laurence Zammit
Life-jackets are stored aboard the Aurora rescue ship of German NGO Sea-Watch that operates in the Mediterranean Sea. AFP

EU reaches deal to reform bloc's migration and asylum laws

Major reform will accelerate vetting of irregular arrivals and deportations of rejected ones

December 20, 2023| AFP, Mark Laurence Zammit
Mark Mallia wants to help genuine employers but warned the rogue ones they should expect him on their doorstep with the police. Photo: Karl Andrew Micallef

Identità CEO: 'We're just going for numbers. That's not how it should be'

Mark Mallia acknowledges problems with temping agencies but says abuse is being policed

December 19, 2023| Mark Laurence Zammit
Migrants often perform jobs with little or no safety. File photo

Migrants should be given the welcome and dignity they deserve

'Leaving multi-culturalism to its own devices will not work'

December 17, 2023| Times of Malta
Clothes and a tube used as a buoy abandoned in a wooden boat used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean. AFP file photo

More than 60 feared dead off Libya in latest migrant tragedy

They are believed to have died because of high waves which swamped vessel

December 17, 2023| AFP
Migrants landing in Malta. File photo

Malta's 'complicity' in coordinating pushbacks to Libya condemned

'Such policies violate international, human rights laws'

December 15, 2023| Times of Malta
Sudanese migrants drawing a flag of Sudan at a reception centre for isolated migrants in Calais, northern France. Photo: Sameer al-Doumy/AFP

Delayed protection 'harms mental health of Sudanese, driving some to flee Malta'

Conflict ongoing since 2003, but escalation of fighting in April created humanitarian emergency

December 11, 2023| Sarah Carabott
Ambassador for the Philippines Nathaniel Garcia Imperial said he hoped the two countries could reach an agreement soon. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Philippines wants its workers in Malta protected against abuse

Agreement would ensure Filipinos experience ‘less exploitation and abuse’

December 11, 2023| James Cummings
Activists gathered in front of the law courts despite the rain on Saturday morning Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Drop 'inhumane' charges against El Hiblu 3, activists say

Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer joins activists in Valletta

December 9, 2023| Daniel Ellul
Umayma Elamin Amer (right) thought that if migrant women came together for a meal (left), they could open up about their trauma.

How migrant women started sharing trauma over a cooked meal

'After four years afraid to go out, I started speaking up... and I now feel less drained'

December 7, 2023| Sarah Carabott
Thousands of third-country nationals have been sent back to their countries with heavy loans, victims of ‘criminals’. File photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Non-EU workers shamefully ‘spat out’ on the road by temping agency 'criminals'

Temping agency boss welcomes plans to regulate sector plagued by abuse

December 7, 2023| Daniel Ellul
The El Hiblu three. Photo: Jelka Kretzshmar/Free El Hiblu 3 campaign

'A travesty of justice': Amnesty derides AG's decision on El Hiblu 3

Organisations appeal for charges to be dropped

November 30, 2023| Times of Malta
Soldiers aboard the El Hiblu 1. The three accused (inset) were first charged in 2019. Photo: Jonathan Borg

El Hiblu 3 to face terrorism charges as AG issues bill of indictment

Prosecutors proceed to trial in controversial case that captured global attention

November 30, 2023| Bertrand Borg, Sarah Carabott
PN leader Bernard Grech outside parliament on Monday evening. Photo: Times of Malta

Discussing overpopulation is not xenophobic – PN leader

‘The reality is that people are suffering; people feel that the country is overwhelmed’

November 29, 2023| Daniel Ellul
Migrants await processing during a deportation operation by the Ministry of Interior in Tripoli.

Libya sends nearly 250 migrants back to Niger, Chad 

More than 700,000 migrants were on Libyan territory between May and June

November 28, 2023| AFP