Ahhhh...The Maltese ID Card

              Don't Leave Home without It...

               If You can Get One, That is...


It's the key to the island. The bank wants you to have one or it will tax your accounts; the police want you to have one or they will tell you can't stay in Malta; your employer wants you to have one or...I don't know what your employer will do. Anyway, it's the elusive Maltese ID card I'm talking about.


The hours of the office, located almost underwater in Valletta, are varied: Open only mornings except on Wednesday when they open from 3 to 6 PM on a leap year. Almost no one just walks into the office and walks out with an ID card. You have to apply for it.


And almost no one walks in to apply for one and walks out without having to return. That's why I’m in a bad Malta mood today. This is maybe the second time I tried to apply for one and had to come back again because something was missing among my papers, my information, my personal life story.


So what to expect when you get there? First, some gruff police officer who doesn't speak English (or Maltese) greets you and asks you where you're from. You're not allowed to say anything except where you're from; the officer interrupts you if you try.


Then, depending where you're from, the officer points you to a shabby table in the middle of the room with about five different colored forms. They're all the same except for the titles of the form. Here are two of them:

• Application Form for a Maltese Identity Card for Persons Who are NON-EU Citizens--This is the green one I believe I'm supposed to fill out.
• Application Form for a Maltese Identity Card By Persons Who are EU Citizens of Non-Maltese Nationality--This is the one Mr. S. used to apply for his.
  

There are several more--all the same except for the title, as I said.

Each form asks for your personal details--name, birthdate, address in Malta, etc.; the personal details of your parents; your passport number and other document numbers--and a declaration to be signed by the applicant to attest that all the above are true or you will be forced to drink ten Kinnies (a Maltese soft drink) in a row as a punishment.

Now here's something interesting. Women who apply for a Maltese ID card--and only women--must produce marriage/divorce certificates. You're come a long way, Malta baby, in women's rights, I see.

Back to my circumstances--I had all my papers--birth, marriage, divorce, toilet--everything with me--plus two passports. One was my old one with my Maltese residence certificate pasted into it--and the other was my new and improved passport which I had to get because the old one was going to expire.

Well, I almost expired when the ID office turned me away because the residence certificate wasn't glued into the new passport. They made me leave, telling me to go back and get the residence certificate placed in the new passport. It didn't matter that I had the residence permit; it was not located in the second passport.

So I left. I hate them--the stupid ID place, all its forms and rules. I hate everything about this office and every office in Malta. But I have to give the ID office credit for one thing which is something close to miraculous in Malta: the ID card is free.

Comments

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

ייעוץ זוגי
Would you please repeat that?--shalom--Ilene

[ייעוץ זוגי]

I observed that almost no one taking strolls in to utilize for one and taking strolls out without having to come again. That's why I’m in a bad the island of malta feelings these days.

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Hi there, Pedro--my pleasure. Thanks for the kind comment--Ilene

[Pedro]

Thanks for this informative and well written article. Though I have already found tones of info at http://www.pdfspirit.com/contoh-karya-tulis-ilmiah the search engine on ebooks, your article was a real pleasure to read.

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Hi Everyone--Lyn sent me this by email and said I could put it in as a comment:

Morning Ilene,

Believe me, it was as just as bad, if not worse, when we lived for 5 very hard years in Spain!

There we had the help of a Gestoria, who was set up as a cross between a solicitor & a clerical officer, as a lot of the older Spanish can't read & write due to the Franco regime.

The trouble is, it gets to your turn & a Spaniard opens the door & bellows out a question, totally interrupting us. So a fairly simple task could take all morning.

Then you have to go off & buy a form from the tobacconist's, then off to the police station for fingerprints & official stamps, then back to the Gestoria.

Exhausting! And of course, everything would stop at 1pm, so we had to go & collapse in the nearest bar.

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Hi Nat, thanks, as usual, for your very useful information. But I didn't get my ID yet! No, no, no...I have to go back and try again this week xx Ilene

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Thanks, Ricky, for your excellent information xxx Ilene

[Ricky]

Important Notice for UK citizens living in Malta.

Over the past months, the Strategy and Sustainability Division of the Maltese Ministry of Social Policy has finalised a new procedure for streamlining entitlement to healthcare for UK nationals residing in Malta who are currently afforded cover under the Reciprocal Health Agreement between Malta and the United Kingdom.

The scheme requires that UK Nationals residing in Malta, who are not otherwise insured through EU Regulations, register with the Entitlement Unit for a special entitlement document. This document will be valid for two years and will need to be presented each time the holder accesses Maltese public healthcare services.

Applications for enrolment to the scheme are available for downloading from the Entitlement Unit’s website at: www.sahha.gov.mt and can be submitted by post. They must include a photocopy of the applicant’s British passport and a copy of the registration certificate or residence permit.

British Citizens who are already in possession of a Certificate of Entitlement issued by the Entitlement Unit in terms of EU regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 or are paying National Insurance contributions in Malta are not required to register for this scheme.

As from 1 July 2010, British Citizens failing to present any of the above mentioned entitlement documents will have to pay for treatment given. British Citizens requiring emergency medical services while on holiday in Malta will be required to present their UK issued European Health Insurance Card.

Any enquiries regarding this new scheme should be directed to the Entitlement Unit telephone number 22992345, email: entitlement.mhec@gov.mt

[Natalie Owens]

Right on about the bank account and ID card. My husband had to get the card before opening an account or the process would have been more complicated.

Re health insurance, for visitors from the EU, there is a card one can apply for that entitles one to free healthcare when traveling across EU countries. However, I don't know it applies over the long term or just for a holiday. I do have one of those cards...all those who move here from the EU should have one so they can be covered until other, more permanent arrangements are made.

Congrats on getting your ID card, Ilene! x

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Yes, Dee--I would have to say that starting early is the moral of the story and the key to every single thing about moving abroad. Besides the bank, the other MAJOR thing to start early is arrangements for private health insurance here in Malta. Many people from the UK think they are entitled to the free health insurance in Malta--and they aren't. So my advice to anyone and everyone is to find out about the health insurance situation before they need it--not during an emergency--xxx Ilene

[Dee Owen]

So the moral of the story is...as you did...start everything early!

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Hi Dee--If you have an ID card, you can open a bank account right away. If you dont, it can take months as the bank stalls and checks out your accounts in other banks where youve lived.  I started a bank account at HSBC three months before I came to Malta--and that worked out for me. Mr. S. did better when he got an ID card and was able to open a bank account the same day with no problem--Ilene

[dee]

O.K. got the picture. But do you have to have to have the card to open a bank account or they just require you to have one to do transactions?

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Hi Dee-good question. I might have been able to get one when I first came to Malta, but I would have had to renew it at this time. Now I have to get one because the bank is telling me to. One document depends upon another. I think it should be easier for me to get one based on my status as a family member of an EU. That would have happened except for the certificate being glued in the old passport instead of the new one.

[Dee]

What a performance. Why did you have to wait so long to get it and not as soon as you got to Malta?

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Not fair, A--where's that machine??--Ilene

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Well, "Ricky," aren't you special...

[Alexandra Claes]

You forgot they have one of those great hot chocolate machines and it only costs 45 cents !

Only had the chance to have the one --- in and out with my card in 20 minutes :)

[Ricky]

Well,
I walked into the office and out with a new ID card after changing my address! That was a big surprise as I was expecting to have to wait for a letter and then go and get the new ID card.
I didn't even have the chance to try and look neat for the new picture! So now I have a nice new ID card with a very scruffy looking picture.You can't have everything.
But it is free .....

[Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name)]

Hi Joe, that is a very good thought. However, the application does also ask for the maiden names of women. But who knows?--thanks, Ilen