Readers Letter – “I now understand we have to go through the process of gaining residency all over again…Can anyone explain to me WHY we (and all other foreign nationals) MUST do this as the authorities have already got all our information and have had this for over 4 years. we also have passports too.
I am most perturbed at having to do this again as we have always maintained the integrity of the information that they currently hold on file on us.
We even updated address and photo id every time we moved and more recently too as we moved house in August 2012 so they have a current id photo and new address.
I challenge their requirement to renew our residency and id cards, as we have fulfilled our obligation to register with the authorities according to EU Law. Its not our responsibility to have to re-apply for this. At the most people in this position should be able to fill in a form and reapply by post for a very simple exchange of one card for the other….without having to take a a day out of their lives to visit Valletta at their whim.
I further ask them why issue id cards (pre January 2013) with a prolonged expiry date when they knew they were going to change the system (ours were last issued due to change of address in august 2012 and have an expiry date of 2018, and they definitely knew this was to change. Further they were still doing so in December 2012. Knowing full well that it would need to be re-applied for.
I also wish to know what they intend to do if people do not renew or indeed apply. What and how are the going to enforce this issue. We are hearing rumours of fines being imposed? Are maltese nationals being asked to do the same, I realise they have a natural right to residency but are they being asked to renew their cards too? And what penalties are they intending to impose on them if they dont renew? There must be thousands of local nationals with out of date ID cards and most have no intention of renewing..
Why were we not informed in advance by mailshoot. What about those foreign nationals who still do not know about this as they do not speak nor understand Maltese, they dont buy a paper, they dont have internet access and thus no email….were they supposed to just learn about this via word of mouth…also remember many of these people are of the older generation and most likely retired and are of an age where internet is a puzzle.
Even their website advises of appointments [1] being available is flawed as these are only available by email how are people meant to know about all this? No mention of a telephone appointment system.
Assuming 25000 non maltese eu nationals alone (at the current rate) 50 aplications per day (remember they can only be appled for on tuesdays and fridays) this matter will take 250 weeks….even at 100 per day it will take over 2years. Then there is the non EU and the immigrants too.
What a shambles!”
Regards David Reiling,
Mellieha.
16 Comments To "New e-card for non-Maltese Nationals – “What a shambles”"
#1 Comment By Mark Thorogood On January 22, 2013 @ 7:14 pm
“Are maltese nationals being asked to do the same, I realise they have a natural right to residency but are they being asked to renew their cards too?” yes
#2 Comment By Paul On January 22, 2013 @ 8:01 pm
Mr.Reiling you are absolitely right i am with you on this matter, it typical Maltese just look for more bureautical crap, what we should do really is to sign a petition or better still send the id card back to them and tell them to stick it where the monkey stuck the peanuts, that’s how strongly i feel about this extra unnecessary work.
#3 Comment By david reiling On January 22, 2013 @ 10:12 pm
they shouldn’t need to look at the old files – the very fact you hold a self sufficient residency certificate proves you passed the tests once, and I can’t see what legal right they have to make you pass the tests a 2nd time…who said that….?
#4 Comment By Paul On January 23, 2013 @ 9:12 am
I though the idea was according to this present government is to save money spent on unnecessary work, yes David i checked on this when i was working in the Netherlands, it is apparently illegal to make you pass the 2nd time, but then again it is not illegal to rectify or improve one personal details and not start from fresh, this is the same kind of illegality when an expat import a family vehicle that is already registered in an EU country of origin, now many had to pay for the 2nd time vat registration fees which are in most cases twice & even three times higher the the first registration, someone at the customs once told me that depended on who was on duty at the time or what mood they were in. the mind boggles with these people, at this rate they will not be any expats retiring to theses beautiful islands due to silly bureautical unnecessary processes.
#5 Comment By david reiling On January 23, 2013 @ 12:27 pm
it would indeed be interesting to make the appointemnt and turn up with just the residency cert and old card and ask for it to bexchanged without any further documents / evidence – my details are up to date on both……but I guess thats just too simple – it seems that the reason is that without this change malta wouldnt have got the 8m euros make the required changes in order to cmply with EU rules……so the eu expats are to be guinea pigs and their cash (paid in previous tax years) is funding it..yet theyre the ones who are to be inconvenienced by having to do it all over agaon and in TWO visits not ONE AS IS THE EU LAW..
#6 Comment By hans On January 23, 2013 @ 1:01 pm
David, i Understand what you are saying and i do agree with you, however i am not a politician or support any particular party, primerilly i am self sufficient and do not rely on the Maltese government, but then again my hunch is that when the next government is elected and it seems that Labor are ahead i think perhaps maybe Mr.Muscat will see things differently and cut out the red tape to make life easier for everyone foreign and locals alike -HOPEFULLY. but without contradicting myself may the best party win.
#7 Comment By david reiling On January 24, 2013 @ 11:06 am
Hans – I too am self sufficient and have proved this once already – and can prove it when asked to do so – BUT there is absolutely NO NEED for me TO PROVE IT AGAIN. They have my details all of them and they’re up to date as of 5 months ago. I dont believe for one minute that a change of government will make one iota of difference. I am not bothered about the politics involved just want a peaceful life and to be dealt with fairly – a life that I pay for myself and have nothing from the state other than that to which I am entitled as an EU citizen.
#8 Comment By Mark Thorogood On January 23, 2013 @ 12:47 pm
“it would indeed be interesting to make the appointemnt and turn up with just the residency cert and old card and ask for it to bexchanged without any further documents / evidence ” which is what I asked them and they agreed, as long as I bring my passport and copies of everything, plus the forms filled in.
Rather than assume the worst, why not ask first 🙂
#9 Comment By John Williams On January 23, 2013 @ 4:58 pm
You seem to have an advantage on us Mark, I sent umpteen emails even for appointment…………. Still waiting for an answer
The information we got on [5] is as useful as a pork pie in a Kosha do
and by that I mean that I wrote several times to the email addresses provided and no answers
#10 Comment By david reiling On January 24, 2013 @ 7:01 am
i have an email to the effect of bring the res cert and id card fill a form in and voila – but sadly i dont tust the authority to stand by the email – it wil all depend on who takes your application and whether they are in a good mood or indeed are having a good or bad day.
#11 Comment By Mark Thorogood On January 23, 2013 @ 12:49 pm
so thats
residency card
ID card
passport
forms
copies of all the above
#12 Comment By Peter Wilson On January 23, 2013 @ 4:01 pm
Its a pity that Mr Reiling dosn’t live in Gozo, then if he didnt have an email access, he would have to travel to Valletta to collect the necessary forms. Then go back to Valleta with the said forms compeleted and the information they request queue up for 3 hours, then have to wait up to 12 weeks to return again to collect it. Why can they have an office on Gozo? The ID offiices have closed I am sure that when Gozaitans have to renew there ID cards, there will be an office here.
#13 Comment By George On January 23, 2013 @ 4:08 pm
It is a clear breach of our rights to expect my partner and I to travel from Gozo to Valette twice to sort this ID issue out. Between us that amounts to at least twenty wasted hours of our lives, plus the aggravation that goes with it. And we’re not getting any younger. Pigs will fly before either of us acceed to such nonsence. This should be sorted out in Victoria as ID issues always have done for EU nationals living on Gozo. Imagine any other EU government ordering foreign EU nationals to travel miles at their own expense and inconvienience to provide information that is already on record. This is truely shambolic and incredibly unfair.
#14 Comment By david reiling On January 24, 2013 @ 7:06 am
If i lived in Gozo i d be even more angry for sure…..its a shambles and a disgrace – an elderly friend of mine has tried 10 times to phone the advertised number to get a home visit as they are invalids…and guess what the phone gets answered and left off the hook – he said he could even hear people talking and answering questions….as i said – what a shambles
#15 Comment By Tony Stivala On January 24, 2013 @ 11:48 am
David your friend is right, I experienced exactly the same, It is now 11.43 and I have been trying to talk to them on the phone since 0830 this morning
I phoned regularly every 15 mins. and the phone is off the hook because all I gt is engaged tone.
Yet yesterday DR. Mariella Grech, the director of the department wrote in answer to Janet Bayes’ letter and as usual all there was the usual draconian type of answer you must do this and you must do that but all she told us to do is uselss as they do not answer phones or emails, and as somebody already said I turned up with an email telling me to go there and i was turned away. What a mess
#16 Comment By david reiling On January 24, 2013 @ 5:09 pm
my email from Mariella Grech said SHOULD RENEW not MUST RENEW