Malta Citizenship by Marriage: What Happens After You Apply, and How Long It Takes (2026)

How long does Malta citizenship by marriage take?

Malta citizenship by marriage has no officially published processing time and no paid or official fast track, because each Form B application is decided individually by the Minister, who must be satisfied that the grant is not contrary to the public interest, so the timeline you can plan is the preparation you control and the follow-up you do well.

That is not the answer most couples hope for, and it is worth being clear about why. Aġenzija Komunità Malta, which handles citizenship applications, publishes the conditions, forms and fees, but not a target time for a decision. Any figure you read elsewhere is an individual experience, not a commitment, and no adviser, Mirabello Consultancy included, can speed up or influence the decision. What you can influence is everything before and after it: a file that is complete when it is lodged, conditions that stay met while it is pending, and a clear record of where your application stands.

This guide explains the stages after you lodge Form B, what each one involves, which conditions continue to apply and how to follow up properly. For the documents you need before you apply, see our Form B document checklist.

What happens after you lodge Form B?

After Form B is lodged, Aġenzija Komunità Malta reviews the file, the applicant may be invited to an interview, the Minister decides the application, and an approved applicant swears the oath of allegiance and collects the certificate of registration for €50, after which the new citizen can apply for a Maltese ID card and passport.

The stages run in this order, but not on a published clock. The official description of the route is on Aġenzija Komunità Malta's acquisition of citizenship page, and the legal basis is article 6 of the Maltese Citizenship Act (Cap. 188).

Why does the reference number matter so much?

The reference number you receive when Form B is lodged is the key to every later contact with Aġenzija Komunità Malta, because status questions about a citizenship application are answered against that reference, and without it even a simple enquiry about where the file stands becomes a search that takes time on both sides.

Keep the reference somewhere both spouses can find it, together with the date the application was lodged, the office or mission where it was lodged and a copy of everything submitted. If the application was lodged through a mission, note the mission's own reference too. These details make every follow-up shorter and more precise.

Will you be interviewed?

Some Form B applicants are invited to an interview by Aġenzija Komunità Malta before a decision is made, so couples should be ready to attend and to answer questions about the marriage and the time they have lived together, although not every applicant is interviewed and no interview schedule is published.

An interview is not a sign that something is wrong. The decision rests on the conditions in the law and on the Minister being satisfied that the grant is not contrary to the public interest, and an interview is one way to confirm what the documents show. The best preparation is a file whose dates, addresses and names are consistent from start to finish, so that the answers you give match the papers you filed.

Do you still need to be married and living together after you apply?

A Form B applicant must still be married to and living with the Maltese spouse on the date the citizenship is registered, not only on the date of the application, because the Maltese Citizenship Act requires the marriage and the shared life to continue until registration, which is why a separation while the file is pending matters.

The 5 years of marriage and living together are counted on the date of application, and they run from the date of the marriage, not from the start of the relationship. Couples who separate after 5 or more years of living together face a grey area that needs a legal opinion; we refer such cases to a warranted Maltese advocate rather than treating them as routine. If your circumstances change while the application is pending, take advice before the next contact with the Agency.

What happens if the Maltese spouse dies during the process?

A widow or widower can still register as a Maltese citizen if the couple were married and living together for at least 5 years and were living together when the Maltese spouse died, or if they lived together from the marriage until the death and the fifth anniversary had passed by the date of application, with a death certificate and two affidavits from immediate family added to the file.

This is a difficult moment to handle paperwork, and the rule is designed so that a surviving spouse is not penalised for a loss they could not control. The extra documents should be gathered with care, because the affidavits come from family members and are sworn formally.

Where is the oath of allegiance taken?

The oath of allegiance for Maltese citizenship by marriage is sworn at Aġenzija Komunità Malta in Malta or at a Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate abroad, and each oath, affidavit or declaration sworn at the Agency carries a government fee of €10, while oaths abroad are sworn before a mission official or a person authorised under local law.

The oath is the formal moment at which the applicant commits to the new citizenship. Malta has allowed dual citizenship since 10 February 2000, so under Maltese law the new citizen does not have to give up an existing nationality, although the law of the other country may have its own rules on that point.

How do you follow up on a citizenship application?

Couples follow up on a Form B application by contacting Aġenzija Komunità Malta with the citizenship reference number, by email at citizenship.akm@komunita.gov.mt or by telephone on +356 2122 5232, during opening hours of Monday to Friday from 07:30 to 11:30, with the office closed on Wednesdays, or through the mission where the application was lodged.

A good follow-up is short and specific: the reference number, the names of both spouses, the date and place of lodging, and one clear question. Avoid sending documents nobody asked for, and keep a record of every message and reply. If the Agency asks for something further, respond completely and in one go. Contact details can change, so confirm them on the Agency's official page before you write.

If you would like your follow-up handled carefully, book a free consultation with Mirabello Consultancy and we will review where your file stands.

What should you do if the Agency asks for more documents?

When Aġenzija Komunità Malta asks for further documents on a Form B application, the best response is a single, complete reply that quotes the reference number, supplies every item requested in the required form, with apostilles and certified translations for non-EU documents, and explains briefly any document that genuinely cannot be obtained.

Partial replies sent in several instalments are harder to match to the file and can add weeks. Before you send anything, check that the names, dates and places on the new documents agree with what you filed originally, and keep a copy of the complete reply and proof of when it was sent.

What slows a Form B application down?

Form B applications are most often slowed by a foreign marriage that was never registered in Malta, missing certificates for the Maltese spouse's parents, non-EU documents without apostilles or certified translations, names and dates that do not match across records, and replies to the Agency that are incomplete or arrive late.

The first of these is the most common. A marriage celebrated outside Malta must be registered with the Identità Public Registry, at a fee of €2.60, before Form B can be processed; our guide to registering a foreign marriage in Malta explains how. The Maltese spouse's parents' certificates often come from the Public Registry and parish archives, which takes time from abroad. Each of these causes sits in the preparation stage, which is why preparation is the one part of the timeline you genuinely control.

What happens after you become Maltese?

After the certificate of registration is collected, the new Maltese citizen can apply for a Maltese ID card and a Maltese passport, which costs €70 for an adult between September and March or €80 between April and August, and the couple should check whether any children qualify for Maltese citizenship by descent.

The passport follows the standard process, in Malta or through a mission; our guide to Maltese passports from abroad explains the steps. For children, the rules depend on the date of birth and on how each parent holds citizenship; citizenship does not pass automatically to the child of a person who became Maltese by registration on the basis of descent, so check each child's position with our guide Is my child automatically Maltese?

How Mirabello Consultancy helps after you apply

Mirabello Consultancy is a Swiss advisory firm with offices in Zurich, Dubai and Hong Kong SAR, and we support couples remotely before and after Form B is lodged: we prepare a complete file, keep the reference and the record of submission, prepare you for a possible interview, prepare precise follow-ups to the Agency and track every reply, and plan the passport and children's next steps once the certificate is issued.

You can do all of this yourself, and many couples do. Government fees are paid at cost and shown separately, our fee is confirmed per case, and matters that need a legal opinion, such as a separation while the file is pending, are referred to a warranted Maltese advocate. Our citizenship by marriage service describes the full scope, and our Maltese citizen services page covers passports and births too.