Malta is in both the EU and the Schengen area, so entry follows Schengen rules rather than any Maltese scheme of its own. Which of three situations you’re in decides everything else, and two EU-wide border systems have changed what happens when you land.
Most of Malta is free to walk into. A few sites need booking and they fill up.
Start with which one you are
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens
You need no visa and no pre-travel authorisation. You can enter on a national identity card or a passport and stay as long as you like. You’re outside both of the new border systems below.
Staying beyond three months means registering rather than asking permission.
Moving here as an EU citizen
Visa-exempt third countries
Nationals of a long list of countries, including the UK, the United States, Canada and Australia, can enter without a visa for short stays. The limit is the Schengen rule: 90 days in any rolling 180-day period.
That total counts across the whole Schengen area, not just Malta. It’s the rule people get wrong most often.
How long to plan for
Everyone else
You’ll need a Schengen short-stay visa, applied for before you travel. Malta is in Schengen, so a visa issued by another member state is usually valid here as well. The normal rules about your main destination still apply.
Apply through the Maltese consulate covering where you live, or through whichever member state handles Maltese visa applications there.
Longer stays and residence
The Entry/Exit System
The EU Entry/Exit System records non-EU nationals electronically instead of stamping passports. It started a phased rollout on 12 October 2025 and has been fully operational since 10 April 2026. Malta is one of the countries using it.
In practice that means a facial image and, if you’re twelve or over, fingerprints on entry. Expect your first crossing after a gap to take longer than you remember. Cyprus and Ireland still stamp by hand.
Arriving at Malta airport
The 90/180 rule in plain terms
On any given day, look back over the last 180 days. You can have spent at most 90 of them inside the Schengen area. It’s a rolling window, not a per-visit allowance and not a calendar-year one, and days in any Schengen country count towards the same total. Overstaying affects future entry, and the Entry/Exit System now counts automatically rather than leaving it to someone reading stamps.
The European Travel Information and Authorisation System is not in operation and no applications are being collected. The EU says it will announce the start date several months before launch. When it does begin it will cost 20 euro, last three years or until your passport expires, and apply only to visa-exempt travellers. Any site charging you for one today is selling something that does not exist. Apply through the official EU site when it opens, and nowhere else.
What is checked
You need a passport valid for the required period beyond your departure date, and proof of where you are staying. You also need a return or onward ticket and enough money for the stay. You’ll rarely be asked for all of them, but a border officer can ask for any of them. Travel insurance is a formal requirement for a Schengen visa application and a sensible idea for everyone else.
Visa-exempt lists and the timing of the EU border systems have moved repeatedly. This page explains the framework and states what was true when it was last checked. Confirm your own position with Identità, the Maltese authority for identity and residence, or with the Maltese consulate covering where you live.