Is My Child Automatically Maltese? Citizenship by Birth and Descent Explained

Is my child automatically Maltese?

A child is automatically Maltese if born on or after 1 August 1989 and either parent was a Maltese citizen at the time of the birth, whether the child was born in Malta, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States or anywhere else, with no citizenship application needed. For most families with a Maltese mother or father, that settles the question.

The rule comes from article 5 of the Maltese Citizenship Act (Cap. 188), and Aġenzija Komunità Malta, the government agency that administers citizenship, applies it in the same way on its acquisition of citizenship page. The child does not become Maltese on registration, on receiving a passport or on reaching a certain age. The child is Maltese from the moment of birth, by operation of law.

Two details decide whether the rule applies to your family. The first is the date of birth: the automatic rule covers births on or after 1 August 1989, and earlier births follow older rules. The second is the parent's status on the day the child was born. What counts is whether the mother or the father was a Maltese citizen on that date, and, in one specific case, how that parent came to hold citizenship. Each of these is covered below.

What does the 1 August 1989 rule mean in practice?

The 1 August 1989 rule means that, for any child born on or after that date, Maltese citizenship passes equally through the mother and the father, so a single Maltese parent is enough, and it no longer matters whether that parent is the mother or the father or whether the birth took place in Malta or abroad.

In practice, most families with children born in the last three decades can work from one simple test: was at least one parent a Maltese citizen on the day the child was born? If yes, the child is Maltese. The table below sets out the situations families ask us about most often.

Government fees in the table were read on official Identità and Komunità pages in October 2026. Applications made through a Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate can add mission and courier charges.

Does it matter whether my child was born in Malta or abroad?

For citizenship, the place of birth does not matter for a child born on or after 1 August 1989, because a Maltese parent passes citizenship either way; the place of birth matters for paperwork, because a birth in Malta is notified locally within 15 days, while a birth abroad must be registered separately with the Public Registry.

A child born in Malta

When a baby is born in Malta, the hospital issues a Notification of Birth of a Baby, and the parents notify the birth to the Identità Public Registry within 15 days, online with an eID, in person at the Public Registry in Marsa or in Victoria, Gozo, or by post. The notification costs €2.60, and the family is told by SMS or email when the birth certificate is ready. A birth certificate extract costs €2.60 at the counter or €2.50 online, and a full certificate costs €10.25 at the counter or €9.95 online.

A child born abroad

A child born abroad is just as Maltese, but the Maltese state only knows about the child once the foreign birth is registered with the Public Registry, which costs €2.60. Registration is made in person, at the Public Registry in Malta or through a Maltese mission, using the original civil birth certificate with an apostille unless it was issued in the EU. Our step-by-step guide to registering a baby born abroad to a Maltese parent covers the documents and the order of the steps, and the official Public Registry guidance on foreign births sets out the Registry's own requirements.

What if my child was born abroad between 1964 and 1989?

A child born abroad between 21 September 1964 and 31 July 1989 became Maltese automatically only if the father was Maltese, because during that period Maltese citizenship by descent passed through the father alone, so a child whose only Maltese parent was the mother was not Maltese at birth.

The children in question are adults today, in their late thirties to early sixties, and many have children of their own. That is why the rule still matters: it decides not only whether the person born in that period is Maltese, but often what can be done for the next generation as well.

A Maltese father

A person born abroad in this period to a Maltese father has been Maltese since birth. The practical work is usually about records. If the birth was never registered in Malta, or the father's own records are incomplete, those gaps need to be closed before a passport application, and a mission may ask for details of the parents' and grandparents' civil status where records in Malta are thin. An application can also be held while Maltese nationality is confirmed, so it pays to put the records in order first.

A Maltese mother

A person born abroad in this period whose only Maltese parent was the mother was not Maltese at birth, but is not shut out. Maltese law allows that person to register as a citizen, using Form I, which is explained in the next section. Unusual family circumstances can complicate any of these rules, so where the facts are not straightforward an individual check is worthwhile before anything is filed.

How does Form I work for children of Maltese mothers?

Form I is the application with which a person born abroad between 21 September 1964 and 31 July 1989 to a Maltese mother registers as a citizen of Malta, filed with Aġenzija Komunità Malta at a government fee of €150, plus €50 if the application is approved.

Unlike the automatic rule, Form I is a real application that the Agency decides. The file rests on civil records that prove the line from the Maltese mother to the applicant, and those records have to be consistent with one another: names, spellings and dates must match across every certificate. There is no paid or official fast track for registration as a citizen, and no third party can speed up or influence the decision. The quality of the file is the only lever on timing, because an application that has to be corrected or supplemented simply waits longer.

Citizenship matters are handled by Aġenzija Komunità Malta, not by Identità, which runs the Passport Office and the Public Registry. Once registration is approved and the certificate is issued, the new citizen applies for a Maltese passport in the usual way, as described on our Maltese passport renewal page.

Form I is not the same as Consent Form I

Families are often confused by two documents with similar names. Form I, described above, is a citizenship application for a person born abroad to a Maltese mother between 1964 and 1989. Consent Form I is something quite different: it is the passport consent form that a parent living abroad signs at a Maltese mission, which then emails it to the Passport Office, so that a child's passport application carries the consent of both parents. If someone tells you that you need "Form I", it is worth checking which of the two they mean.

Not sure which situation describes your family? Book a free consultation with Mirabello Consultancy and we will confirm your child's citizenship position before you spend time or money on certificates.

What if the Maltese parent became a citizen by registration?

Maltese citizenship does not pass automatically to the child of a parent who became Maltese by registration on the basis of descent, so a family in which the Maltese parent registered as a descendant cannot rely on the 1 August 1989 rule and needs an individual assessment of the child's position.

The distinction is between being Maltese by descent from birth and becoming Maltese later by registering as a descendant. A parent who was Maltese automatically at birth, because his or her own mother or father was Maltese, falls within the ordinary rule. The exception concerns parents who were not Maltese at birth and acquired citizenship afterwards by registration as a descendant. Many second- and third-generation Maltese families in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States fall into this group, often without realising that it affects their children differently.

We do not give a general answer for these children, because the outcome depends on the family's dates and records. We look at each case individually and refer any question that needs a legal opinion to a warranted Maltese advocate. Families with Maltese grandparents can read more about how descent routes work on our citizenship by descent hub.

A parent who became Maltese after the child was born

The automatic rule looks at the parent's citizenship on the day of the birth. A child born before a parent became Maltese, for example before a foreign spouse registered as a citizen through marriage, is not covered by the automatic rule and needs an individual check. Where a spouse is in the process of becoming Maltese, our guide to Maltese citizenship by marriage and our Form B document checklist explain how the two processes fit together.

Can my child hold Maltese and another citizenship?

Malta has permitted dual citizenship since 10 February 2000, so a child who is Maltese automatically can also hold the nationality of the country of birth or of the other parent, provided the law of that other country allows it as well.

Maltese law therefore does not ask a family to choose. Whether the other nationality can be kept is a question for the law of that country, and it is worth checking before anyone files anything, particularly where the other country restricts multiple citizenship.

If my child is already Maltese, what still needs to be done?

A child who is already Maltese still needs a registered birth in Malta and then a Maltese passport, because automatic citizenship exists in law from birth but the Passport Office can only issue a passport once the Public Registry holds a record of the birth, whether notified locally or registered from abroad.

Once the birth is on record, the first passport is a short step. A passport for a child under 10 costs €16, or €60 through the urgent service, which is ready in 4 working hours for applications made in Malta. Passports for young children carry a shorter validity than adult passports, so families renew them more often. Both parents sign section 6 of Form A in front of a recommender with original ink signatures, and children under 6 do not attend the appointment.

Our guide to the newborn registration and first passport service brings the steps together, and our article on getting a Maltese passport for a child goes deeper into consent, photographs, recommenders and attendance.

Where do families most often go wrong?

Families most often go wrong by assuming instead of checking: assuming a child born abroad between 1964 and 1989 to a Maltese mother is already Maltese, assuming a parent registered as a descendant passes citizenship on automatically, or assuming a child who is Maltese in law can travel on a Maltese passport before the birth is registered in Malta.

Paperwork causes the rest of the delays. Names, spellings and dates must match exactly across the child's birth certificate, the parents' certificates and the Maltese parent's records, and special characters must be transliterated consistently. The Public Registry keeps original foreign certificates, so families should order spare certified copies before they start, and church certificates are not accepted in place of civil ones. Families who left Malta a generation ago sometimes find that the Maltese parent's own birth or marriage was never registered in Malta, which has to be resolved first. Where the parents married abroad, our guide to registering a foreign marriage in Malta explains that step.

How Mirabello Consultancy helps

Mirabello Consultancy helps Maltese families confirm a child's citizenship position before they spend time and money on certificates, then prepares the registration, any Form I application and the first passport file, working remotely from Zurich, Dubai and Hong Kong SAR, handling your side of the process with the Maltese authorities and missions.

You can do all of this yourself, and many families do. Our role is to make the paperwork right the first time: we check dates and records, order and review certificates, coordinate apostilles and translations, prepare the forms, book the appointment at the Public Registry, the Agency, the Passport Office or the right mission, and follow each step through. Every decision rests with Identità or Aġenzija Komunità Malta, and no third party can speed one up. Government fees are paid at cost and shown separately from our service fee, which we confirm per case after a free consultation. All of our services for Maltese families are on our Maltese citizen services page.