Frequently Asked Questions
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frequently asked
questions
International protection agency
If you wish to apply for international protection, you need to make your application in person by coming to our premises located at Fafner House, National Road, Hamrun. For further information on the making of an application, please refer to this link.
Your application shall be concluded within six months from the lodging of your application, provided that in case your application is subject to the procedures laid down in the Dublin Regulation EU/604/2013, this time limit shall start to run from the date it is established that Malta is the Member State responsible for examining your application. The Agency may extend the time limit of six months for a period not exceeding nine months, which may be further extended for another three months to ensure an adequate and complete examination of your application in accordance with Article 6 of Subsidiary Legislation 420.07.
If you have lost an official document issued by the office, you are required to contact a police station and file a police lost report. You may then approach our offices with the original police lost report (which needs to state the name of the document that you lost) and request a certified copy of the original.
Throughout the duration of the procedure for international protection, you have an obligation to renew your Asylum Seeker’s Document (ASD) on the day of expiry. Failure to renew this document may lead to the implicit withdrawal of your application for international protection in accordance with Article 13 of Subsidiary Legislation 420.07.
The ASD is not valid after the date of expiry indicated in the document and is valid only in its original form.
If you did not renew your ASD in time, you may approach the Agency to ask for it to be renewed. If 30 days have passed since it expired, your case may have been closed on this basis, however you can request this Agency to re-open your application or to file a new application. The substantive outcome of the application will not be affected.
Exceptions are made in case of force majeure, where you cannot renew your document in time because you were hospitalised or you are in a situation whereby there is a restriction of movement like mandatory quarantine, provided the necessary documents are forwarded to the Agency.
You are not entitled to free legal assistance during the examination of your first application for international protection. However, you have the right to consult, at your own expense, a legal adviser on the matter.
However, at any stage of the procedure you have the right to communicate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or any other non-governmental organization providing legal advice on asylum.
If a decision is issued on your application for international protection and you decide to file an appeal against IPA’s decision, please note that you are then entitled to free legal assistance during the appeal procedure.
All information provided to this Agency shall be kept confidential and in a highly secure manner, in accordance with the Agency’s GDPR policy. This means your information will only be available to IPA officers who work on your application. The information you will provide to the IPA will only be shared with other competent Maltese government entities to the extent necessary for the processing of your application for international protection.
Your personal information (i.e., surname, name, nationality/citizenship, place and date of birth) you provided to the IPA upon the lodging of your application, will be used in all documents, and correspondence issued in Malta by this Agency and other government entities.
Kindly be informed that you can only submit a request to change the personal details you submitted to this Agency when applying for international protection upon presentation, in original format, of a passport or national identity card issued by your country of origin. If this document in then analysed as genuine, your request may be favourably considered at the Agency’s discretion.
Please note that the Application Form reflects the status of the applicant at the time of lodging. So, the marital status as stated in the Application Form cannot be changed to reflect later changes (i.e., if when you lodged your application for international protection you declared to be single and later you got married, the Application Form cannot be changed to reflect your current marital status).
If you are an asylum seeker and hold an Asylum Seeker’s Document, kindly book an appointment via frontoffice@ipa.gov.mt or call +356 21255257 to come to our office and update the details in your document in-person.
If you have already received refugee status, subsidiary protection or Temporary Humanitarian Protection you can provide your updated details via email on info@ipa.gov.mt.
Kindly be informed that an asylum seeker has an obligation to remain present on the territory of the Member State that is examining his/her application for international protection for the duration of the asylum procedure.
However, the law provides for the possibility for IPA to suspend this requirement as regards the asylum procedure for an asylum seeker to travel outside of the country for a limited period of time for a serious humanitarian reason. If approved, this means the IPA will keep your application open even though you will leave the Maltese territory for a time. However, please note that the IPA does not regulate entry and exit into Malta and permission to leave and re-enter the country needs to be sought from the Immigration Police.
In order for this Agency to consider your request to travel and not have this affect your asylum procedure, we require documentary evidence pertaining to the reason why you need to leave the country for a serious humanitarian reason.
The Agency has the right to hold the passport of an applicant during the asylum procedure. However, if an applicant submits a request for his/her passport to be withdrawn from IPA for a maximum of 5 working days for a valid reason, this request will be duly considered by the Agency. A valid reason includes, for e.g., needing to submit the passport to another government authority or to a Maltese bank. However, this request can only be processed once the passport has been analysed and has proved to be genuine.
Kindly be reminded that the passport needs to be returned to IPA within a maximum of 5 working days, and that failure to do so will lead to the discontinuation of your application as implicitly withdrawn.
When approaching IPA to have your passport withdrawn, please remember to bring your original document receipt that you were issued with when you submitted your passport to this Agency.
If you have lost your document receipt, you will need to present a police lost report to the Agency instead.
If your application is still pending, you can present additional evidence by coming to our premises by appointment or via email to protection@ipa.gov.mt clearly indicating your Refcom number.
If you wish to withdraw your application for international protection, this can be done by coming to our premises by appointment (you can write to frontoffice@ipa.gov.mt or call +356 21255257 to book your appointment).
You may wish to note that, if you submitted a passport or another document to this Agency and you wish to have it returned on the day, you need to present your original document receipt issued by IPA.
If you are an asylum seeker, please contact AWAS to enquire further:
Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS) Block C, Belt is-Sebh, Floriana Tel: 25687200 Email: awas@gov.mt
Web: awas.gov.mt
As an asylum seeker you are entitled to emergency health care. Please check with the Medical Entitlement Unit, Ministry of Health regarding what medical care you are entitled to.
Medical checks at the Floriana Health Centre are mandatory in accordance with the instructions issued by the Public Health authorities and as part of the asylum procedure in Malta.
As an asylum seeker, you are entitled to access the labour market after 9 months have passed from the date of lodging of your application, however JobsPlus may, at their discretion, give you access prior to this. Please check with JobsPlus regarding how to access the labour market.
- Jobsplus (ex-ETC) Head Office, Birzebbuga Road, Hal Far Freephone: 153 Tel: 22201100 Email: jobsplus@gov.mt
Web: jobsplus.gov.mt Facebook: @jobsplusmalta; Gozo Office Sir Arturio Mercieca Street, Victoria. Freephone: 153
Tel: 2220 1950
If you are under the age of eighteen, you have the right to access the state education system. Please check with the Ministry of Education regarding how to access education:
- Ministry for Education, Great Siege Road, Floriana Tel: 25980000 Web: education.gov.mt Facebook: @edukazzjoni
In Malta it is mandatory to attend school until a child is 16 years of age. Any child below or inclusive of such an age, must be enrolled and should attend school as they have a right to education.
If you are a relative of a minor who is in Malta without his/her parent or legal guardian, and you wish to be appointed as his/her legal representative, you may contact the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS) for further information on how to begin the process to become a legal representative through a court order. If you have funds to do so, you may be required to engage a private lawyer to file for the court order. If you do not have funds to do so, you may qualify for legal aid.
Your Asylum Seeker’s Document or protection certificate needs to be renewed in-person at our premises. Kindly book an appointment via frontoffice@ipa.gov.mt or call +356 21255257.
Please note minor children need to attend in-person for you to renew protection certificates on their behalf.
You can submit a subsequent application for international protection only after a final decision on the merits of your application has been issued and, either you have appealed and the appeal decision has been issued, or you have decided not to file an appeal and the 15-day period in which you can do so has passed.
Please remember that subsequent applications will only be considered as admissible by the Agency upon presentation of new elements or findings related to your application, which were not considered at first instance and which significantly add to the likelihood of you qualifying as a beneficiary of international protection.
You may file a request for a subsequent application by, either coming in person to IPA and filing in the form at front desk, or you may email the Agency on subsequent.application@ipa.gov.mt asking for the relevant form and then reverting back by email. You need to submit any evidence you wish the office to consider with this subsequent application in original format (where applicable). When a decision on the admissibility of your request to submit a subsequent application is ready, you will be duly informed of this.
Children of beneficiaries of international protection, who are born in Malta, are entitled to the same rights and benefits of their parent with the highest level of protection. If you wish to have a residence permit issued for your newborn child on this basis, you need to approach our office in Hamrun, together with original Maltese birth certificate of the newborn child and the parent or parents’ protection certificate/s.
Please note, if you wish to apply for international protection on behalf of your minor child because you believe they may have a claim in their own right, you may also do so.
If you have been granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, please contact Identita’ to receive further instructions on how to apply for your residence permit.
- Address: Hal Far Hangar, Hal Far, BBG3000 Tel: 2590 4841 Email: protection.ima@gov.mt Web: identitymalta.com
Kindly note that only beneficiaries who have been granted refugee status are entitled to family reunification in Malta. Beneficiaries of subsidiary protection are not entitled to family reunification.
Please note that family reunification falls under the remit of Identita’ so any requests on this issue need to be addressed to Identita’ directly.
In order for this Agency to grant you access to the documentation in your client’s file upon which the Agency will take a decision, you must first submit IPA’s consent form duly signed by your client, confirming that you are his/her acting legal representative and s/he is giving consent for you to access his/her file. Please initiate this procedure by sending an email on the following address: info@ipa.gov.mt. Kindly note that access to the file is granted only to one lawyer per client, i.e., the current legal representative.
Yes, you may attend the lodging and/or personal interview together with your client. Please note that during the lodging and the personal interview of the applicant, only one lawyer is admitted in the room during the interview and s/he may not intervene during the process but is present in an observatory capacity. If the applicant’s lawyer wishes to make an intervention s/he may do so at the end of the lodging or interview.
Please note the IPA reserves the right to ask a lawyer to leave the room if frequent interruptions are preventing the IPA officer from conducting a neutral and cordial lodging or personal interview with the applicant.
You are also kindly requested to communicate to IPA in advance that you wish to attend the applicant’s lodging and/or personal interview.
If you don’t find an answer to your question in this list, you can send an email to info@ipa.gov.mt and you will receive a reply to your query as soon as possible.
