Working in Malta: iGaming, finance and getting the right to work as an Australian

Malta has jobs for English-speaking professionals. Whether you can take one depends almost entirely on your passport.

The short version

• Online gaming, financial services, tech and hospitality are the big employers of foreigners. iGaming alone employed about 13,900 people in Malta by mid-2025 [1].
• Australians without an EU passport need a single permit, applied for by the employer before you arrive. It costs €600 and can take up to four months [2].
• Higher-paid roles can use fast tracks: the Key Employee Initiative from €45,000 a year and the Specialist Employee Initiative from €30,000 [2].
• Maltese citizens by descent are EU citizens and need no work permit at all [2].
• Recognition of an Australian degree through MQRIC costs €15 or €65 and is done online [3].

Who's hiring

Most Australians who move to Malta for work end up in Sliema, St Julian's, Gżira, Ta' Xbiex or the business parks around Birkirkara and Mriehel, rather than Valletta itself.

iGaming

Online gaming is the industry Malta is known for. Industry reporting put iGaming employment at 13,929 people by June 2025, up 11.7% on the year before [1]. The sector has shifted towards business-to-business firms: platform providers, game studios, payments and compliance [1]. That means roles in software, data, product, marketing, customer support, payments, fraud, and anti-money-laundering and compliance.

For Australians, compliance and risk experience from banks or wagering firms at home travels well. So does customer and VIP management for English-speaking markets.

Financial services and funds

Malta has a regulated financial sector with banks, insurers, fund administrators and payment firms, overseen by the Malta Financial Services Authority. Accounting, audit, fund administration and AML roles are steady demand. Professional qualifications from CPA Australia or Chartered Accountants ANZ are widely understood, though employers decide what they accept.

Tech, health and hospitality

Jobsplus data shows foreign workers concentrated in professional, scientific, technical and administrative services, followed by trade, transport, ICT, and accommodation and food [4]. Hospitality is big but low-paid, and Malta tightened rules for third-country workers in some sectors from 2026, including courses and English checks [5].

Your right to work

This is where Australians split into two groups.

The single permit

Identità runs the process [2]:

• The employer starts the online application, and you endorse it before payment.
• You must apply from outside Schengen, or while already legally in Malta on another status. You can't arrive as a tourist and switch.
• Decisions can take up to four months and are subject to security checks and labour market testing.
• You can start work only once you hold the interim receipt or the residence document.
• Most permits last one year. Renewals cost €150 a year, and changing employer means a new €600 application [2].

The single permit ties you to one employer. That's a big change from the freedom you're used to in Australia. If you're made redundant, your status is in play, so keep an eye on the date.

The fast tracks

The Key Employee Initiative is for managerial or highly technical jobs paying at least €45,000 gross a year, backed by qualifications or proven experience [2]. The Specialist Employee Initiative is for skilled roles from €30,000, needing a degree-level (MQF Level 6) qualification related to the job, or a lower qualification plus three years' directly relevant experience [2]. Many iGaming and finance roles clear one of these lines.

Maltese-Australians

If you have a Maltese-born parent or grandparent, check your citizenship before you job hunt. As an EU citizen you can apply for any job in Malta and across the EU with no employer sponsorship. Our Maltese citizenship by descent guide explains the forms.

Jobsplus, tax numbers and the paperwork

Jobsplus is Malta's public employment service. For foreign hires, the employer is the one doing most of the admin: employment has to be registered with Jobsplus and the tax authority, even where social security exemptions apply [6].

From your side, the first weeks usually look like this:

1. Sign the contract and check it states the salary, hours and probation.
2. Wait for the single permit decision before moving, unless you're an EU citizen [2].
3. Arrive and collect your residence document from Identità.
4. Get your tax and social security numbers so your payslip is right from the first month.
5. Fill in an FS4 so your employer uses the right tax table.
6. Open a local bank account for your salary. Allow time: due diligence is thorough.

Malta's labour law gives full-time employees 216 hours of annual leave a year in 2026, about 27 days on a 40-hour week [5]. That's more than the four weeks of annual leave standard at home.

Pay compared with living costs

Malta's statutory minimum wage for adults is €229.44 a week in 2026, plus a cost-of-living increase of €4.66 a week [5]. That's well below Australian award rates.

Professional salaries are better, but they're usually lower than equivalent jobs in Sydney or Melbourne. The permit thresholds are a useful reality check: the government treats €30,000 as the floor for specialist roles and €45,000 for key employees [2]. Senior iGaming and finance roles pay well above that, while junior and support roles sit closer to the specialist threshold. Use job ads and recruiters to benchmark your own role.

Then remember what's missing compared with home:

• No super guarantee. Your employer pays Maltese social security, not super. Topping up your fund from overseas is up to you. See our super while living overseas guide.
• Tax is lower in the middle. Income from €16,001 to €60,000 is taxed at 25% for a single person in 2026 [5]. Our Malta tax guide does the maths.
• Rent bites. Sliema and St Julian's rents eat a big share of a mid-level salary. Our cost of living guide compares it with home.

Social security you pay in Malta can count towards the Australian Age Pension later under the Australia–Malta social security agreement [7].

Getting your Australian qualifications recognised

MQRIC, the Malta Qualifications Recognition Information Centre, sits inside the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority and is Malta's ENIC-NARIC centre [3]. It issues a recognition statement that maps your Australian degree against the Malta Qualifications Framework [3].

1. Check whether your qualification is already on the authority's list. If it is, you don't need to apply [3].
2. If not, apply online. Face-to-face and email applications are no longer accepted [3].
3. Pay €15 if your programme is already on MQRIC's database, or €65 if it's new [3].
4. Download the statement once approved [3].

There's no published processing time, because MQRIC waits on replies from the issuing country [3]. Apply before you need the statement for a Specialist Employee application. Regulated professions such as medicine, nursing, law and teaching have their own warrant or registration processes, and MQRIC says entry criteria for jobs are the employer's call [3].

Australian loose ends

• HECS-HELP. Moving overseas doesn't wipe your debt, and you must report worldwide income. Our HECS-HELP guide explains.
• Australian tax residency. Leaving for a Maltese job doesn't automatically end it. Check the ATO tests.
• Smartraveller and the High Commission. Subscribe to Smartraveller updates for Malta. The Australian High Commission is in Ta' Xbiex [8].

The quickest way to hear which firms are hiring is to ask people already here. Join Cooee Malta, our Facebook group for Australians in Malta.

Sources

1. Malta's shift to B2B bears fruit (7 January 2026) – IGaming Capital
2. Working and residing in Malta – Identità
3. Academic qualifications recognition (MQRIC) – Malta Further and Higher Education Authority
4. Foreign nationals employment trends – Jobsplus
5. Payroll updates 2026 – PwC Malta
6. Exemption for third-country nationals to register under the Social Security Act – Department of Social Security Malta
7. Social Security Agreement between Australia and Malta: FAQs – Department of Social Services
8. Malta travel advice – Smartraveller (DFAT)

Keep reading

• Tax in Malta: residence, remittance and the Australian treaty
• Moving to Valletta from Australia: the complete guide
• Renting in Valletta as an Australian
• HECS-HELP debt when you live overseas