The European golden visa hotspot where inheritance tax bills don’t exist

From January 2025, you will need to buy a property worth at least €375,000 or rent one for over €14,000 per year, and pay a government contribution of €30,000.

Allow €50,000 for government application fees and due diligence, according to Adalberto Pucca of Global Citizen Solutions, another migration adviser.

“This is not the best route if Maltese citizenship is the end goal,” he says. For that, there is the Malta Citizenship for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment (known as CES, MESDI, or golden passport). This is considered to be the fastest path to European citizenship through investment, according to Pucca.

It gives the right to live, work and study in any EU country, plus visa-free travel to over 180 countries after just one year of Maltese residency. In comparison, you would need to reside 10 years in Spain or seven years in Greece, for example, to apply for citizenship.

“Over the past year, it has become particularly popular among Americans seeking a different political environment and also British nationals looking to regain EU access,” says Pucca.

But it requires deep pockets. From January, this will require a property purchase of at least €700,000, or paying rent of at least €16,000 per year (for five years). Applicants will also need to pay a government contribution of €590,000-€740,000, plus another €50,000 per dependent and a €10,000 charitable donation.

Alternatively, for those seeking special tax status is the Malta Global Residence Programme (GRP), offering non-EU and EU nationals a €15,000 flat tax or 15pc per year tax rate on income. It requires a property purchase for at least €220,000 or renting for over €8,750 per year.

Opposition to golden passports

For many years, the EU has accused golden visa and golden passport schemes of fostering corruption, tax evasion and money laundering. When only a year of residency is required for the CES – and none for the MPRP – many holders invest little more than their money into the island.

Last year, 233 golden passports were revoked by the Maltese government, it was reported by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, an investigative organisation set up by the family of the journalist murdered for her exposés of corruption and organised crime in Malta.

But the scheme has recently been given a boost in the courts. Last month, the EU’s Court of Justice ruled that Malta’s citizenship through investment scheme is not illegal.

It was reported that European Commission lawyers had “failed to prove” that EU law requires there be a genuine link between a member state and a passport applicant, and as such, it was up to EU countries themselves to decide who should be their citizens.

Rising house prices

The abolition of the non-dom tax regime in the UK, plus increases in capital gains tax and inheritance tax allowances is making more wealthy British people consider Malta, says Grahame Salt, a director at Frank Salt Real Estate, the largest estate agent chain on the island.

The number of British clients registering over the last six months has more than doubled, with around 85pc going for residency.

American, Chinese and South African buyers are also very keen on these schemes, according to Salt, so demand for homes has kept prices rising. In the second quarter of 2024, Maltese house prices rose by 7pc when compared to the same period in 2023, according to Eurostat.