Ministry wants urgent information about Malta regulations: "We received complaints, requested delay"

The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to allegations that children from Serbia whose parents work in Malta but do not earn enough will be evicted. The Ministry said in a statement that complaints received from our citizens residing and working in the Republic of Malta are increasing.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Rome which covers Malta on a nonresidential basis, is aware of the increasing number of complaints of our citizens residing and working in the Republic of Malta regarding the treatment of families with minor children 'due to insufficient annual income'. These are Malta's internal regulations that apply to nationals of all non-EU countries who are under the jurisdiction of a body responsible for issuing residence permits - Identity Malta," the statement said.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the competent Maltese authorities for urgent information about the regulations governing stay in Malta, as well as the procedure necessary to regulate these issues, and information about  the possible options for overcoming the encountered problems.

Given the complexity of the issue, the Foreign Ministry has already previously initiated consular consultations with Malta to consider this and other questions with the Maltese side and find a solution. This initiative has been accepted and consular consultations are scheduled for January 27, 2020.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Maltese authorities to consider postponing making decisions on these issues until consular consultations have been held and the problem has been solved. The Honorary consul of the Republic of Serbia in Malta has been engaged in solving this issue," the statement added.

22 children, including children from Serbia, have no right to reside in Malta any longer. The reason is that their parents don't earn enough money and thus don't meet the legal requirement for obtaining a residence permit. These are mostly families from non-EU countries.

As a result, a number of public figures in Malta reacted by saying that the reasons are "ridiculous" and that this decision is disgraceful.

(Telegraf.rs)