No to Pay to Play: EU Court Rules Against Malta’s Sale of Citizenship

The European Court of Justice on Tuesday said Malta’s “golden passport” scheme is illegal, effectively striking down the program that allowed people to buy citizenship, according to Politico. 

The court ruled that even if each member state can decide how to grant or withdraw nationality on its own, Malta’s program was eroding the principle of mutual trust between member states. 

“A member state cannot grant its nationality – and indeed European citizenship – in exchange for predetermined payments or investments, as this essentially amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction,” said the court. 

The European Union (EU) already took action against Malta in 2022 over the program, which grants foreigners a Maltese passport – and, therefore, the right to live and work in the EU – if they are willing to invest about $1.4 million in Malta, wrote Reuters. 

According to the scheme, the people were also required to spend – at least in theory – one year in the country, the Guardian noted, even as the newspaper found that some only spent a few weeks. Critics said this program opened the door to money laundering, corruption, and security risks.  

Malta insisted it correctly interpreted EU treaties, pointing out that the country suspended the scheme for Russian and Belarusian citizens after the invasion of Ukraine. However, recipients of the program before the ban came into effect included Russian businesspeople.  

Now, Malta’s government said it would adhere to the ruling, adding that past recipients of the program would not be impacted. It also noted that this scheme raised hundreds of millions of euros while it was in place. 

Malta is not the only country in the European bloc that has such a scheme. Cyprus and Bulgaria halted theirs, with Cyprus revoking some of the passports it had already granted, mostly to Russians.  

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he wants to launch a $5 million “gold card” visa to help wealthy foreigners gain US citizenship.