Malta’s Economy ‘Losing Millions’ Due to Breakdown of Visa Processing Leaving Businesses Unstaffed
Businesses in Malta are facing a major human rescue crisis as a result of a persistent leap in the visa processing system.
The Malta Chamber of SMEs, one of the country’s leading business lobby groups, has warned that it has been sounding the alarm to the government for months but no action has been taken to alleviate the situation.
Consequently, the private sector is facing a huge human resources crisis, with new employees blocked from coming to Malta even after Identity Malta issued them a work permit.
“The pressures facing businesses in terms of human resources are now unprecedented,” said the House, citing a recent internal study that ranked the human resources problem at the same level of pressures. inflationary.
“Malta is facing a very serious problem. The estimated cost of business and the economy as a whole is several million. “
The Chamber said that the main fault in the system lies in the processing of visas at the Office of the High Commission of Malta in India, which handles visa applications from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
“[These countries] they are exceptionally important sources of staff in the current circumstances and they are all at a standstill at present, ”warned the House.
“Businesses have lost full confidence in the contracted appointment management system, which is being abused by the numerous reports regularly received by businesses and visa applicants alike.”
Lovin Malta is informed that the problem of visa processing is widespread, not only in India but also at the Maltese consulate in the UAE, which processes visa applications from Pakistani nationals.
Visas take several months to process, even when applicants pay more to be fast, and are often refused for false reasons.
For example, this applicant told him that his visa application had been rejected because he had not provided a justification for his stay in Malta … even though he had sent his employment contract to the UAE consulate. with the new Maltese employer.
Some even waited so long for their visas to be processed that the 180-day deadline expired to obtain a visa issued by Identity Malta after approving their work permit.
This blockade is causing human resource pressures across the board, from retail to restaurants and hotels, with some staff forced to work overtime or take shorter breaks.
Meanwhile, the pool of available Maltese workers is extremely limited, with the number of people registering for the job market recently dropped to a record low of 963.
In addition, not enough EU workers – who do not have to go through the visa application process – are being attracted to the jobs they are calling for staff. Malta’s extremely high rental prices and relatively low wages have often been cited as a reason.
The Malta Chamber of SMEs has warned that the visa processing system is “archaic, lacking in transparency and lacking, by far, sufficient resources to handle the necessary pressures”.
“This part of the process in applying for a work or study visa has paralyzed the whole system,” they said. “The SME Chamber appreciates that the challenges that contribute to this process are not small. But we are also convinced that the main problem is that these challenges were already well known but have been under the rug for too long. ”
“The situation is now not only unmanageable but uncontrollable. This crisis requires drastic intervention. “
“If we were to use the analogy of a patient, we cannot treat only a patient in a critical condition and who needs immediate surgery with a diet. The time to treat a patient with a diet is long gone and the patient is now dying. ”
“The SME Chamber calls on the authorities to immediately use the necessary resources to shorten the processing time.”
“The SME Chamber emphasizes that it is by no means calling for any lax approaches or removing the necessary controls, but for the immediate realization that the system has failed and that we are not acting efficiently and quickly in the economy. Our company, which is trying to recover later. two hard years, they will continue to be hit with every week of inaction. ”
Have you been affected by this blockage in visa processing? Feel free to reach out [email protected]