Malta visa and entry requirements

Under the Schengen Borders Code (Article 6(1)(a)), a third-country national's travel document must be valid for at least three months after the intended date of departure from the Schengen Area (this may be waived in a justified case of emergency) and must have been issued within the previous 10 years.

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• Yellow fever (International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP)) — WHO lists Malta as requiring proof of yellow fever vaccination from travellers aged nine months and over arriving from countries determined by WHO to be at risk for yellow fever transmission, including travellers who transited more than 12 hours through the airport of such a country.

Schengen visa applicants must prove they hold adequate and valid travel medical insurance, valid throughout the Schengen Area for the whole intended stay, with minimum coverage of €30,000. No official source we could read requires it of visa-exempt visitors.

No official source we could read makes a return or onward ticket a condition of entry in itself. The UK government tells British travellers that at Maltese border control they may also need to show a return or onward ticket.

The European Commission's table of reference amounts fixed by national authorities for crossing the external border gives Malta's minimum amount per day and per person as EUR 48.

• EES — Entry/Exit System (biometric registration) — On a first crossing since the EU Entry/Exit System started, passport control officers take a photo of your face and/or scan your fingerprints, and your passport is not stamped. On later crossings the data is already recorded and officers only verify it, which takes less time. The UK government's travel advice says there is no cost for EES registration. (at the border on first entry) travel-europe.europa.eu ↗(opens in a new tab)
• ETIAS — European Travel Information and Authorization System — Malta is among the 30 European countries that will require visa-exempt travellers to have an ETIAS travel authorisation. ETIAS is currently not in operation and no applications are being collected; the EU will announce the start date several months before launch. (before travel, once etias starts) travel-europe.europa.eu ↗(opens in a new tab)

A person who landed with leave becomes a prohibited immigrant if they fail or cease to comply with any condition of their leave to land or remain. The Principal Immigration Officer may then issue a return decision. If a removal order accompanies it, the person may be detained until removed. The return decision tells the person that they may apply for a voluntary-departure period of 7 to 30 days. An entry ban accompanies the return decision when no voluntary-departure period is granted or the person does not leave within it. The length of the entry ban depends on the circumstances of the case and does not exceed five years.

Cash of €10,000 or more (or its equivalent in other currencies) must be declared to customs when entering or leaving the EU.

• Arriving from outside the EU, the EU's Your Europe portal gives a duty-free allowance of 4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer, plus 1 litre of spirits over 22% vol. (or 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine); 200 cigarettes (or 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars or 250 g of tobacco) where the higher tobacco limit applies, since a higher or lower limit may apply depending on the EU country; and other goods worth up to €300, or €430 for travellers by air and sea. Under-17s are not entitled to a duty-free allowance for tobacco or alcohol.
• Arriving from another EU country, Your Europe says no further payments are due on alcohol and tobacco bought for your own use and not for resale. Each EU country sets guideline quantities, which may not be lower than, for example, 800 cigarettes or 10 litres of spirits; if customs suspect goods are not for your own use, you may be asked to prove that they are.