Malta · administrative route
Emigrating to Malta
Malta is three hours' flight, English-speaking and EU — the easiest emigration in the Mediterranean, at first sight. Reality has rules of its own: a registration that only accepts complete files, a rental contract that's void if the landlord doesn't register it, and a tax treaty from 1977 that ties the famous remittance advantages to your transfers. This page shows how it really works.
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- Kind of journey
- EU — register, no visa
- The chain
- Home → file → biometrics → card → eID
- Note
- Exemption only on what you remit to Malta
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the island choice to the remittance bookkeeping
A route of complete files and honest sums. The registration with Identità that yields an appointment within 48 working hours — provided the file is done. The rental contract that has to be registered within ten days, on pain of nullity. The car with twice twenty-four months of conditions. And the tax lesson the brochures skip: what you don't remit, the Netherlands simply keeps taxing.
- 1
Orientation
316 km² of English-speaking EU — and the busiest in Europe
Malta is small, English-speaking and close, and that's exactly why the downsides deserve an honest look: the most densely populated country in the EU, construction noise, and a winter you feel indoors because houses have no heating and no insulation. In this phase you also choose your spot — the expat heart Sliema/St Julian's, the Maltese south, or slow Gozo — and learn what the remittance rule means for your income, before anything is signed.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
The remittance sum, and one letter from your bank
The familiar list — healthcare, benefits, deregistration — with two Maltese peculiarities. The big one: article 2 paragraph 5 of the treaty ties the Dutch exemption to what you actually remit to Malta, and the AOW and the ABP pension stay taxed in the Netherlands regardless. The small but expensive one: ask your Dutch bank now for a reference letter, because Maltese banks ask for it and without that letter your account takes weeks to months longer.
- 3
The move
Flying for you, sailing for the rest — and the tapeworm clock
Three hours' flight for the people; for the car and the household contents it goes overland to Sicily or Salerno and then the boat. The car has its own sum: the relocation exemption asks 24 months' ownership and 24 months outside Malta, and the island drives on the left — which makes a left-hand-drive car permanently awkward. And the dog has the tightest clock of the move: a tapeworm treatment in a window of 24 to 120 hours before arrival, plus a compulsory pre-notification.
- 4
Registration on Malta
Complete file or no appointment — and the card everything hangs on
First the home, with a contract the landlord registers within ten days — otherwise it's void and usable neither at Identità nor at the utilities. Then the complete file to the Expatriates Portal, the biometrics appointment and the card. After that follow eID and tax number, the bank account (count on weeks; the reference letter speeds it up), and healthcare: the S1 by email to the Entitlement Unit for the Certificate of Entitlement.
- 5
Arrival
Thirty days for the car, bookkeeping for the tax office
The ToR file to Transport Malta within the deadline, with the ferry ticket as proof. The tax return gets its remittance bookkeeping: separate accounts for capital from before the move and income after. And daily life its Maltese sides: free public transport on the personal Tallinja card, the school choice between state, church and international, the ARMS rate in your own name — and the dehumidifier that wins the winter.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Malta journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 2.2 of your plan
Pension and the remittance rule: the sum the brochures skip
- Lead time
- the sum is an evening; the exemption statement takes weeks
- Costs
- none
Malta taxes whoever lives there but isn't domiciled only on income that is transferred to Malta — the remittance basis. That sounds like zero per cent for whoever leaves their pension in the Netherlands, and that's exactly where the trap is: article 2 paragraph 5 of the treaty ties the Dutch exemption to that same transfer. If you don't remit your pension, the Netherlands grants no exemption and simply keeps taxing. If you do remit, Malta taxes — at the ordinary brackets, or under a special regime.
Two incomes don't take part anyway: your AOW (the Dutch state pension) the Netherlands may keep taxing under article 19 paragraph 3, and a government pension (ABP) stays Dutch via article 20. Work out before departure which part of your income can go to the Maltese regime, and what transferring costs or yields you on balance — this is the sum par excellence for a tax adviser who knows both countries.
This is step 2.2 of 32. The other 31 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 2.300 – € 7.400
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 2.200 – € 6.500
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 0 – € 150
- De verhuizing
- € 100 – € 700
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.200 – € 6.500
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- e-Residence-registratie en de kaart€ 0 – € 25
- Akten en eventuele vertalingen(estimate)€ 0 – € 80
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 100 – € 700
Voor de mensen: drie uur rechtstreeks vliegen vanaf Schiphol of Eindhoven. Gaat de auto mee, dan rijd je in twee dagen naar Pozzallo op Sicilië en pak je de snelle catamaran naar Valletta (± 1u45), of je kiest de lange ro-ro-lijn vanaf Salerno — een dag en een nacht varen, goedkoper voor het voertuig. Reken op overnachtingen onderweg, tol en de overtocht.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 2.200 – € 6.500
Wettelijk zijn de borg en de vooruitbetaling elk op één maand begrensd. Landelijk kost een appartement met één slaapkamer rond € 900 per maand; in Sliema en St Julian's € 1.100 tot € 1.500, in het zuiden en op Gozo fors minder. Tel de dubbele lasten van de zoekweken mee, de aansluitingen op je eigen naam (let op het residentiële ARMS-tarief), een ontvochtiger voor de winter en de airco-rekening van de zomer.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 6 to 9% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 15.000 to € 22.500.
De stamp duty is 5% van de waarde, en daar komen notaris (doorgaans 1 tot 2%, plus zoek- en registratiekosten) en eventueel een eigen advocaat bij. EU-burgers hebben voor hun hoofdverblijf géén AIP-vergunning nodig; voor een tweede woning wel, tenzij je vijf jaar onafgebroken op Malta woonde of in een Special Designated Area koopt. Voor starters op de Maltese markt gelden wisselende vrijstellingsregelingen — laat de notaris de actuele stand toepassen.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 29 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Malta, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Malta: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that only a short update when something in Malta really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Malta
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Registration on Malta
- 2 min
The e-Residence document and the eID: the Maltese chain
Register within three months with Identità, online via the Expatriates Portal — and the rule that determines everything: a complete file gets a biometrics appointment within 48 working hours, a half file is not processed. After that everything hangs on the card, from eID to bank.
Updated 29 August 2026
- 3 min
Living and renting in Malta: the contract that must be registered
Since 2020 the landlord must register every residential rental contract with the Housing Authority within ten days — and an unregistered contract is void. Plus the deposit that is legally capped at one month, the rents from Sliema to Gozo, and the winter you only feel indoors.
Updated 29 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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