Moving to Malta from New Zealand

Our residency index: 70/100, comparatively open. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in Malta is for New Zealand citizens, based on the routes Malta publishes. Malta offers clear routes for applicants with means: the income-based Nomad Residence Permit for remote workers, the investor Malta Permanent Residence Programme for permanent residence, and the tax-based Global Residence Programme.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

• Income: about $4,065 a month (Malta Nomad Residence Permit, EUR 42,000/yr gross active professional income (EUR 3,500/mo); converted at EUR 1 = USD 1.1614 (ECB 2026-06-03); as of June 2026)
• Investment: about $581k (Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP), requires proof of EUR 500,000 capital (incl EUR 150,000 financial) plus ~EUR 99,000 in government contribution, administrative fee and NGO donation; cheapest path leases property at EUR 14,000/yr; converted at EUR 1 = USD 1.1614 (ECB 2026-06-03); as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, New Zealand passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold New Zealand passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

1. 1

   1. Valletta

   82% match

   Est. cost

   €3,108/mo

   Avg temp

   20°C

   Safety index

   78/100

Our estimate for a couple living centrally in Valletta is €3,108 a month. For comparison, we estimate €3,812 a month in Auckland. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Malta is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax); New Zealand is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in New Zealand after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

• Best cities in Europe where English is widely spoken
• Warm, affordable cities to live abroad
• Best places to retire in Europe
• Best places to retire in the world
• Best small and mid-sized cities to live in abroad
• Safest cities to live in Europe

• Moving to Malta from the US
• Moving to Malta from the UK
• Moving to Malta from Canada
• Moving to Malta from Australia
• Moving to Malta from Ireland

Every country and origin we cover

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

• Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
• Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
• City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding New Zealand passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
• Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
• Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.