Department of Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs Quality Service Charter

Contents

Who we are

This Charter

Our Services

How to contact us

Opening hours

Our commitment

How you can help us

If you are not satisfied with our service

Learning from you!

Who we are

At the Department for Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs we are responsible for the administration of the provisions of:

• Chapter III of the Constitution
• The Maltese Citizenship Act (Cap. 188) - registration/naturalisation of persons as citizens of Malta, confirmation of dual citizenship cases and deprivation of Maltese citizenship
• Section 44 (4) of the Constitution - confirmation that persons to whom this section refers enjoy 'freedom of movement' in Malta
• The Immigration Act (Cap 217):
• Section 4: Confirming 'exempt person status'
• The Immigration Regulations, 2004 – issue of Uniform Residence Permits.
• Status of Long-term Residents (Third Country Nationals) Regulations, 2006 – confirmation (through the issue of a Uniform Residence Permit valid for a maximum period of 5 years) of long term residence.

This charter outlines the services we provide and the standards of service we aim to achieve and which you can expect from us. It also tells you what to do if you would like our service to change or improve. We regularly monitor and seek to improve the quality of our customer service according to the standards in the Quality Service Charter. Through this charter we are committed to providing you with a quality service.

We have issued information leaflets on the different services we offer. Each leaflet explains in detail the particular service, who is entitled to it, the procedures to be followed and the documents that have to be produced. Each leaflet is numbered and carries the letters CEA (Citizenship & Expatriate Affairs). These leaflets may be obtained from our Department.

An important aim of this Charter is to consolidate the information contained in the leaflets and to show our commitment by establishing standards in respect of each service provided.

Our Services

• If you require information regarding your national status, we can confirm whether you ever became a Maltese citizen, still are a Maltese citizen and what you should do to retain Maltese citizenship (Leaflet CEA 1)
• If you are a foreigner married to a citizen of Malta or a former citizen of Malta, or the child born abroad between 21.09.64 and 31.07.89 of a Maltese mother, we can help you through the whole process of acquiring Maltese citizenship by registration (Leaflet CEA 2)
• If you are eligible to apply for naturalisation as a citizen of Malta, we can inform you of all the procedures you have to follow. Whether citizenship is granted or not depends on whether your application can be considered under the current citizenship guidelines (Leaflet CEA 3)
• If you became a citizen of Malta on 21.09.64 or at birth and if you are or were an emigrant or if you have resided or are still residing abroad and you have retained or acquired or are about to acquire a citizenship other than that of Malta, we can confirm whether you qualify to hold dual citizenship (Leaflet CEA 4)
• If you need to register:
• the birth certificate of a citizen of Malta who was born abroad
• the marriage certificate in respect of a citizen of Malta who was married abroad
• the death certificate of a citizen of Malta who passed away outside Malta

then you will need to call on us before you proceed to the Public Registry (Leaflet CEA 5)

• If you are:
• a former citizen of Malta who was born in Malta and who lost Maltese citizenship as result of emigration
• the non-Maltese spouse of a citizen of Malta and has been married for 5 years and are still living with your Maltese spouse
• the widow/widower of a citizen of Malta or of a former citizen of Malta (see above) to whom you had been married for at least 5 years or 5 years have elapsed from the date of marriage or of a former citizen of Malta (see above)
• the son/daughter of a citizen of Malta or of a former citizen of Malta (see above)

then you enjoy freedom of movement, that is, you may remain in Malta and also work

here (in the case of children this is applicable until their twenty-first birthday)

• If you are the non-Maltese spouse of a citizen of Malta but you have not yet been married for 5 years, or you are the widow/widower of a citizen of Malta who died before 5 years of marriage, then you enjoy exempt person status, which entitles you to the same rights as freedom of movement (Leaflet CEA 6)

Our Department is located close to the Auberge de Castille (the Prime Minister's Office), and is near the entrance to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. You can contact us by:

• coming personally or writing to the:

Department for Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs

Valletta CMR 02

• phoning us on 2200 1800
• faxing us on 2200 1830
• sending an e-mail on citizenship@gov.mt
• accessing our website at:

www.mha.gov.mt/services/citizenship/citizenship.html

Opening hours

The Department is open to the public during these times:

The Director meets members of the public only by appointment. For this purpose you may contact our Department on telephone number 2200 1801 to make an appointment.

We hope that you will find our Department clean, pleasant and welcoming. We will do our best to ensure that the official with whom you have an appointment or who is to deal with your case will see you as quickly as possible.

In those cases where the service you need depends solely on our Department, as in the case of confirmation of:

• freedom of movement
• exempt person status
• dual citizenship

you will receive a reply from our Department within 3 weeks from the date of your enquiry.

Some of the services we offer do not depend exclusively on our Department and we will require the co-operation of others as, for example, the Police Department. In these cases we shall try to deliver such services within the following time frames:

* From date of receipt of application.

In the case of other routine correspondence including e-mails we will reply to your requests within a maximum period of 5 working days. If for some reason this is not possible, we will inform you of the action that is being taken.

Some examples of how you can help us provide a better service:

• If you have applied for Maltese citizenship and have been asked by the Immigration Police to call on them producing documents indicated, you should do so immediately.
• If you are applying for a uniform residence permit please ensure that the appropriate application form (CEA/20) is completed as appropriate and that photocopies of the required documents (plus the originals) are presented at the Department.
•  If you are applying for a uniform residence permit in respect of a family member, please ensure that you, as the uniform residence permit holder or as the applicant for a uniform residence permit, sign the relative application (CEA/23).
• If you are applying for a long-term residence permit, apart from completing the appropriate form (CEA/20) you should furnish the necessary documents (originals + photocopies) to cover the last five years prior to the date of application.
• In the latter cases it would be advisable to consult our leaflet on Uniform Residence Permits (available from the Department) which may be found on the Ministry’s (MJHA) website or which may be requested also by e-mail on: citizenship@gov.mt  It is also advisable to read the notes contained in the above-mentioned application forms.

We also ask you to:

• be courteous and co-operative with our staff
• call on us only when we are open to the public
• call beforehand to make the necessary arrangements, if you have to see an official of the Department due to an urgent need
• ensure that you have all the necessary documents that are required before proceeding to the Department

It is important that you are satisfied with our service. If you think that we have failed to maintain our service delivery standards you can lodge a complaint. We will look into all complaints as they also help us improve our service and because your complete satisfaction is essential to us.

Your attention is drawn to the fact that we cannot deal with your complaint if:

• you do not qualify for a service
• your application for Maltese citizenship has been refused. It is to be noted in this respect that Section 14 of the Maltese Citizenship Act (Cap 188) stipulates that 'the Minister (responsible for citizenship matters) shall not be required to assign any reason for the grant or refusal of any application under this Act and the decision of the Minister on any such application shall not be subject to appeal to or review in any court'.
• Your application for a uniform residence permit has not been fully supported by the requested documents.
• You do not satisfy the conditions for long-term residence status, particularly if you exceeded the allowable periods of absences from Malta.

We continuously strive to provide a service that meets your needs and we welcome any comments and suggestions for service improvement. Kindly give us your comments by filling in the Feedback Form and leaving it in the suggestion box that we have made available at the reception area or by mailing it to us.

All information is correct at time of going to print. Information is continuously updated on the Charter Support Unit website.

First published August 1999

October 2003

December 2007

Printed by the Charter Support Unit, OPM

http//www.servicecharters.gov.mt

Printed at the Government Press