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You have to show three months bank statements from when you first moved here to prove you do live here but we have never had ours signed by a bank manger, the first time I have heard that.

Hmm but don't you need an e-reg card to open a bank account? Catch 22?

richiwatts wrote:

Hmm but don't you need an e-reg card to open a bank account? Catch 22?

On paper no you do not need one, you're entitled to a basic account

In reality - who knows, it depends on the bank manager if you do or do not get one.  Banks in Malta both BOV and HSBC now advertise via pamplets in the branch that they do offer these - though its MFSA issued pamphlets so might still just be toilet paper

The requirement to prove income for self sufficiency never needed to be an account in euros, just used to prove you had the required capital or income. It did need to be translated to English if necessary and it was that translation that had to be notorised.
The other separate and more recent requirement, though I am not sure it is official, is to show a local bank statement so that it can be seen that you are indeed residing here by showing local transactions covering the 3 months, we were informed on renewal that local receipts or utility bills could be used instead.
This seems to be at odds with the fact that you are actually informing the government of Malta that you are exercising you right under EU law.
Technically you can apply for your eResidence card on day one of your arrival and must do it within 3 months, but that seems to have been changed by staff to be that you must have lived here For 3months!

You are correct, Foxglove.  In our case the folks in the office made a determination that there were not enough ATM transactions on the three months of statements - we had mortgage payments, utility bills and local insurance payments on it and we had to wait another 3 months to have more ATM transactions before they would accept our application.  I interpreted it to mean that I had fulfilled my responsibility by notifying them of my residency within 3 months, even though they had not accepted my application until 6 months.  Its completely subjective and up to the opinion of the office staff that you talk to on the day.

I get the impression that EU tourists often just stop by and apply for residency just as something to have, so I understand how this would mess things up for the government if they didn't know which self sufficiency people were really residents and which ones were tourists.  I'm not sure how else the folks in the office would determine which was which so I was ok with the delay

Very interesting foxglove and timcob thanks

Hi Timcob,
we are experiencing the same as you did... The main problem is, you are not able to buy and register a car until you are accepted as resident (local ID number needed). How did you solve this?
It ist very difficult for us to live in Gozo without a car and long term car rental during spring and summer is awfully expensive.

I rented a car until I had the ID and it was expensive.   I know of someone else with the issue and they also rented a car.

Also the GO TO car sharing works well if you only occasionally need a car.

christiane69 wrote:

Hi Timcob,
we are experiencing the same as you did... The main problem is, you are not able to buy and register a car until you are accepted as resident (local ID number needed). How did you solve this?
It ist very difficult for us to live in Gozo without a car and long term car rental during spring and summer is awfully expensive.

We live in Gozo and manage without a car, only hire one for a few days once a month to do a big shop,
we either walk or use the buses.

Thanks very much for your reply timcob and GozoMo!
GozoMo, I know you can get by with public transport as we have lived in Gozo once before. But we are artists and often have to transport things or need to visit places off the beaten track for work. That's why we depend on a car... But thank you anyway!