1.The ETC—known as the Employment and Training Corporation-- has formally changed it’s name to the Eternal Torment Corporation and is located in Hell Far, Malta.
False. The name change has occurred but it’s not formal. The ETC—whatever you call it—is located in Hal Far, Malta.
2. The ETC likes you, especially if you’re from a Non-EU country.
False.
3. When the ETC changes its regulations, it updates its website.
False. The ETC has changed much of the information it requires within the last nine months—but doesn’t tell you until you’re already sitting there in front of them with the usual application. Then the ETC informs you that you have the wrong application that you downloaded per instruction from its website.
Point in fact: The ETC asks you to submit a CV with all your previous employment and education. This is the CV that your prospective employer has already seen and approved of—or else your employer wouldn’t be offering you the job. That was fine nine months ago. But now, the ETC asks you for certified documented proof from each and every employer and school you list on your CV.
Lesson: If you don’t have certified proof—official transcripts and letters of references—even from employers from years ago—DO NOT PUT THEM ON YOUR CV. You will be sent home to get them. The ETC doesn’t care if you have the qualifications for a job; it just cares that you can prove them. Or rather, it hopes you can’t prove them. The ETC wouldn’t care, for example, that you learned IT skills from Osama Bin Laden; The ETC just wants an official letter of reference from him.
4. The ETC is flexible.
False. The only difference between the new application for an employment license and the extension application is one word: extension. I came in with the extension application (because that’s what I was told to bring in) and the ETC made me leave and start the procedure all over again. Every single word, signature and supporting document was the same. I couldn’t even redo the application there; I had to leave and come back.
5. The clerks at the ETC are nice.
True. Ah ha! Caught you on that one, didn’t I? Yes, the clerks are nice but severely lacking in knowledge. If there are three clerks in the room, they can’t agree on a point of argument or fact. One clerk thought she was helping me out when she told me that because I was the partner of an EU person, I could register at the Department of Immigration as his dependent--and then the ETC wouldn’t be able to turn down my permit application. Even I thought that sounded too good to be true.
So we left the ETC, went to the Immigration Department that said I couldn’t file for dependency until November, 2010, when we would have been living together for two years.
When we returned to the ETC the next day to relay this information and continue with the application the first way (as a Non-EU), the same clerk told us that now she had checked with the Immigration Department and she had made a little mistake—a dependent of an EU person is not allowed to work. Oops. Not exactly the information she gave us the day before.
6.The ETC is the worse part of the government of Malta.
False. The Office of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs of Malta is even worse.
7. The ETC is very tricky.
True. Shhh…I’ll tell you a secret. The ETC doesn’t think you’ll know this until it’s too late and most non-EU people don’t, but…after four years of working legally in Malta—for the same employer or whoever—the ETC will automatically reject your application and tell you that you must leave the country for six consecutive months before you are eligible to apply again for a position. Most employers don’t even know this!
And guess what? If you want to apply to be a long-term resident or a citizen of Malta, you have to prove that you haven’t been absent from Malta for six consecutive months. Wow! Isn’t it funny that two different branches of the government mention a six-month period? And that this six-month period dooms you one way or another? If you stay, you can’t work. If you leave, you can’t stay. (And, yes, I don’t like it but I’m not leaving.)
8. You can induce labor by taking the bus to Hal Far.
True. Many pregnant women who may be overdue arrange for their midwife or OB-GYN to wait for them at Hal Far. After taking that smooth bus ride, most babies are delivered upon arrival. For a fee (and make sure it’s correct), you can have your baby in the ETC’s special delivery room.
9. The ETC won't divulge any information about your case to you or your employer over the phone.
True. And they also won’t divulge any information to you about your case by mail, email or when you’re sitting in front of them.
10. The ETC thinks that I’m just going to give up and leave Malta.
False. I won’t.
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