|Published on: 18th June 2026|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on Malta provides a detailed overview of legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025. It is accompanied by an annex providing an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2024 are set out below.
(A) International protection
Asylum procedure
- Key statistics: According to the EU Statistical Office (Eurostat), 545 asylum applications were recorded in Malta in 2025. This represented a decrease from the previous year and has been attributed to a continuation of a policy of reducing arrivals by sea by allowing fewer disembarkations on the island. 160 applicants received international protection at first instance while an additional 10 people received refugee status on appeal.
- Access to the territory: Despite the numerous situations of distress that were reported within Malta’s maritime search and rescue zone in 2025, very few people were actually disembarked on the island. Continued co-operation with the Libyan Coast Guard resulted in pullbacks from the zone and reports of violence against NGO vessels and people on the move. In addition, the criminalisation of the use of false documentation by people seeking asylum also continued.
- Return of beneficiaries of international protection: In 2025, Malta increased returns of beneficiaries of international protection (BIPs) to the EU member states that had granted them protection, particularly Italy and Greece. Immigration authorities and the detention services organised roadblocks, bus searches and house searches, and arrested anyone without a permit to stay in Malta.
- Pact on Asylum and Migration: As of May 2026, Malta had not published any information on its implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum or adopted the necessary legislation. According to NGOs, no major changes are expected to disembarkation, screening or reception procedures following the entry into application of the Pact as Malta is already employing similar practices of its own volition. However, concerns remain that Pact implementation could further entrench restrictive practices, including preventing newly arrived people from accessing legal and NGO support.
Reception conditions
- Access to reception conditions: In 2025, as in previous years, a number of people faced difficulties in accessing reception conditions because the International Protection Agency (IPA) refused to recognise them as applicants. They included people awaiting transfer under outgoing Dublin procedures and others who were seeking the reinstatement of their international protection status following withdrawal or revocation.
- Access to the labour market: The policy of excluding applicants with inadmissible subsequent applications from the labour market, which had been in place since 2021, was reversed in early 2025.
- Access to education: In a landmark decision in September 2025, the Civil Court underlined that observance of the right to education should not be linked to nationality.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Detention of new arrivals: The short-term automatic detention of all people rescued at sea for “medical reasons” continued in 2025. All people who the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers deemed not to be vulnerable were then issued detention orders.
- Detention upon lodging of asylum applications: Authorities continued to detain asylum applicants upon their arrival at the IPA in 2025. This resulted in heightened fears and reluctance to seek international protection.
- Access to information and asylum procedures from detention: The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and NGOs faced significant obstacles in accessing detained asylum applicants throughout 2025. Detained peoples’ mobile phones were confiscated as soon as they entered the detention centre and phones in detention zones accommodating newly-arrived people were turned off for days or weeks. In addition, detained people were moved around detention zones in order to prevent or limit communication with their legal representatives.
Content of international protection
- Access to long-term solutions: Long-term residence continued to gain popularity among BIPs in 2025. Although it is generally viewed as a more secure status, concerns remained regarding the status of family members and securing travel documents. NGOs highlighted that the combination of the 15-year residence requirement for naturalisation and restrictions on family reunification severely limited the long-term integration prospects of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.
- Family members of protection beneficiaries becoming undocumented: Throughout 2025, family members of BIPs continued to be made undocumented following their 18th birthday as they were unable to secure residence permits in their own name. Malta does not grant derivative status to family members and the ‘dependant family member’ status is lost once the holder turns eighteen.
- Elderly refugees: Elderly BIPs were denied access to residential and care services in 2025 on the grounds that such services are limited to Maltese nationals only. Attempts by NGOs to engage in discussions on this issue with relevant authorities were unsuccessful.
(B) Temporary protection
- Ability to meet basic needs: Temporary protection holders continued to enjoy the same level of rights as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection in 2025. However, for many, this was insufficient to meet their basic needs and they were forced to rely on community support. Elderly people who were unable to access their national pensions faced particular difficulties as their pension and other related entitlements in Malta remained unclear.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
