Malta top of world ranking for granting residence permits, but says it has no room for refugees

The Maltese government’s argument at European Commission level, that it has no room for refugees from Africa and Syria because of the overcrowded conditions on the island, has been severely undermined by the news this morning that Malta issues the highest number of residence permits per 1,000 people in the world.

And not only that, but the gap between Malta’s 23.1 residence permits per 1,000 and next-in-line Cyprus, with 18.4 per 1,000, is large. The gap between Malta, ranked first, and the UK, ranked 5th with 9.7 per 1,000, is positively enormous when you factor in everything else.

So while Malta is too crowded for refugees and is busy rounding them up and packing them off, it is issuing the world’s greatest per capita number of residence permits to people who pay, to Libyan clients of government cronies, and to the sort of people who Joe Vella Bonnici, chief of Identity Malta, is frequently seen showing round property to rent or buy, or out to lunch with.

Note that these are residence permits, which means that they are issued to third-country nationals. Citizens of EU member states do not need a residence permit to live in another EU member state.

The hypocrisy of saying there’s no room for migrants and refugees when his government is now issuing the world’s highest number of residence permits per capita