Maltese Citizens Abroad: The Complete 2026 Guide to Passports, Births and Marriage

What can Maltese citizens abroad do without travelling to Malta?

Maltese citizens abroad can renew a passport, register a child's foreign birth, apply for a child's first passport and lodge a citizenship-by-marriage application for a foreign spouse through the nearest Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate, without travelling to Malta, although each step still needs a personal appearance at the mission.

About one million people worldwide are Maltese or of Maltese descent, according to the Government of Malta. Many of them live in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and many are second or third generation: Maltese by birth or descent, but with family records split between Malta and the country they grew up in. For them, the practical question is rarely whether they are entitled to a document. It is how to put together a file that the Maltese authorities can accept the first time, from thousands of kilometres away.

This guide brings the three most common family procedures together in one place: renewing a passport, recording a new child and bringing a foreign spouse into Maltese citizenship. Each section answers the core question and links to our detailed guide on that topic, so you can start here and go as deep as your situation needs.

Which Maltese authority handles what?

Three Maltese authorities handle citizen services: the Identità Passport Office issues and renews passports, the Identità Public Registry records births and marriages, including those that happen abroad, and Aġenzija Komunità Malta decides citizenship applications, including citizenship by marriage, while missions abroad receive applications and pass them to Malta.

Knowing who decides matters, because it tells you whose rules you must satisfy. A mission abroad checks that your file is complete and takes your biometrics or your oath, but the decision is always made in Malta. Identità and Aġenzija Komunità Malta are separate bodies with separate forms, fees and reference numbers, so a family dealing with a birth and a passport at the same time is dealing with two offices.

Missions add their own processing and courier charges to applications made abroad, and some charge in local currency, so the figures above are the government fees, not the full cost.

How do you renew a Maltese passport from abroad?

Maltese citizens abroad renew a passport in person at the nearest Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate, which captures your photograph, fingerprints and signature and sends Form A to the Identità Passport Office in Malta, where the passport is decided and printed and then returned by courier or held for collection.

A passport cannot be renewed online, because the biometrics are captured fresh each time. You bring Form A, your previous Maltese passport and your valid Maltese ID card. If you have no valid ID card, the mission asks for a photograph endorsed by a recommender and for sections 7 and 8 of Form A to be completed. Our step-by-step guide to renewing a Maltese passport from abroad covers each stage, and our country guides go into the missions in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada and the United States.

The single most common obstacle is the recommender. For an adult, the recommender must be a Maltese national with a university degree who has known you for at least two years. Families who have lived abroad for decades often need to think carefully about who qualifies, and it is worth settling before you book an appointment.

What does a Maltese passport cost in 2026?

A Maltese adult passport costs €70 between September and March and €80 between April and August in 2026, with a 10-year validity, while passports for children aged 10 to 15 cost €40 and passports for children under 10 cost €16, and applications made abroad also carry the mission's own processing fee and courier charges.

A supplement of €15 applies when a lost, stolen or destroyed passport was still valid, and the replacement then needs an original police report issued in Malta, because foreign police reports are not accepted. Our full breakdown of Maltese passport fees in 2026 sets out every line, including the urgent fees and the extras that apply abroad.

Is there a fast track for any Maltese citizen service?

The only official fast track across Maltese citizen services is Identità's urgent passport service, which produces a passport in 4 working hours for applications made in Malta, at €160 for an adult, while citizenship applications, including citizenship by marriage, have no paid or official fast track and no published processing time.

From abroad you can ask the mission to treat a passport application as urgent, and the urgent fee then applies, but the 4-hour timeframe does not. No adviser, Mirabello Consultancy included, can speed up or influence a government decision. What does shorten the real timeline is a file that is complete the first time, because incomplete applications are the most common reason families wait.

Is a child born abroad to a Maltese parent automatically Maltese?

A child born abroad on or after 1 August 1989 is automatically a Maltese citizen if either parent was a Maltese citizen at the time of the birth, while a child born abroad between 21 September 1964 and 31 July 1989 became Maltese automatically only through the father, and children of Maltese mothers from that period register with Form I.

Automatic citizenship does not mean the Maltese state knows about the child. The foreign birth still has to be registered with the Public Registry before a first passport can be issued, and the parent may need to prove their own Maltese citizenship along the way. Citizenship also does not pass automatically to the child of a person who became Maltese by registration on the basis of descent. Our guide Is my child automatically Maltese? walks through each date rule with examples.

How do you register a baby born abroad and get the first passport?

Registering a baby born abroad to a Maltese parent means recording the foreign birth with the Identità Public Registry, for a fee of €2.60, using the original civil birth certificate with an apostille unless it was issued in the EU, and only then applying for the first passport, which costs €16 for a child under 10.

The registration is made in person in Malta, where a relative can go for you, or through a Maltese mission; there is no postal or online filing. The original certificate is kept by the Registry, and church certificates are not accepted. For the passport, both parents sign section 6 of Form A in front of the recommender with original ink signatures, and a parent who lives in another country signs Consent Form I at a Maltese mission. Our guide to registering a baby born abroad to a Maltese parent covers the documents in detail, and our newborn registration and first passport service sets out how we help.

If you would like your family's file checked before you book any appointment, book a free consultation with Mirabello Consultancy and we will tell you which documents, signatures and offices your situation needs.

Can a foreign spouse become Maltese by marriage?

A foreign spouse can register as a Maltese citizen with Form B after at least 5 years of marriage to a Maltese citizen, provided the couple has been living together for those 5 years and is still married and living together when the citizenship is registered, at a government fee of €150 on application and €50 for the certificate.

The 5 years run from the date of the marriage, not from the start of the relationship. The application is decided by the Minister, who must be satisfied that the grant is not contrary to the public interest, and the applicant swears an oath of allegiance. Malta has allowed dual citizenship since 10 February 2000, so the spouse does not have to give up their existing nationality under Maltese law. Our Form B document checklist lists every document, and our guide to what happens after you apply explains the stages that follow.

Why must a foreign marriage be registered in Malta first?

A marriage celebrated outside Malta must be registered with the Identità Public Registry, at a fee of €2.60, before Aġenzija Komunità Malta can process a Form B citizenship application, because the Agency works from Maltese civil records, and an unregistered foreign marriage does not yet exist in those records.

This is the step couples most often miss, and discovering it at the counter can cost months. The marriage certificate needs an apostille unless it was issued in an EU country. Our guide to registering a foreign marriage in Malta explains the route from abroad, and our citizenship by marriage service describes the whole file.

Which Maltese missions serve Australia, the UK, Canada and the USA?

Malta's official missions directory lists a High Commission in Canberra with Consulates General in Sydney and Melbourne for Australia, a High Commission in London for the United Kingdom, a High Commission in Ottawa with a Consulate General in Toronto for Canada, and an Embassy in Washington, D.C. with a Consulate General in New York for the United States.

The Government of Malta has 45 missions across 34 countries, and consular work such as passports and the registration of foreign life events is handled both by consulates and by the consular sections of embassies and high commissions. Before you book, confirm with the mission which office handles your application and what it currently charges, using the official Maltese missions directory. Our country guides explain what is different in each place.

What makes these files go wrong, and how do you avoid it?

Maltese citizen-service files most often go wrong because of mismatched names or dates across certificates from different countries, a missing apostille or translation, a child's application without both parents' original signatures, a recommender who does not meet the rules, or a foreign birth or marriage that was never registered in Malta before the next step.

Each of these is avoidable with preparation. Check that the spelling of every name matches across Maltese and foreign records before you order certificates. Order originals rather than copies, because the Public Registry keeps the originals it receives. Settle the recommender early. Register the foreign birth or marriage first, then apply for the passport or the citizenship. And keep every reference number you are given, because status questions are answered against it.

How Mirabello Consultancy helps Maltese families abroad

Mirabello Consultancy is a Swiss advisory firm with offices in Zurich, Dubai and Hong Kong SAR, and we support Maltese citizens and their families remotely, wherever they live. Our role is preparation, coordination, documentation and follow-up: we confirm your position, list the documents your case needs, check them before anything is lodged, prepare the forms, book the right appointment and follow the file through to the passport or the certificate.

You can do all of this yourself, and many families do. We are useful when the file spans several countries, when records are thin or names do not match, or when time matters. Government fees are paid at cost and shown separately, our own fee is confirmed per case, and matters that need a legal opinion are referred to a warranted Maltese advocate. Our Maltese citizen services page sets out the three services, and the official sources are Identità's Passport Office and Aġenzija Komunità Malta's acquisition of citizenship pages, with the law itself in the Maltese Citizenship Act (Cap. 188).