The Key Employee Initiative (KEI) is a scheme that offers a fast-tracked work and residence permit to highly-specialised third-country nationals seeking employment in Malta. Furthermore, the scheme is applicable to managerial or highly-technical posts that depend upon relevant qualifications or adequate experience related to the job being offered
Persons who wish to apply for this scheme have to provide relevant information to numerous authorities and government entities, such as the Expatriates Unit and Identity Malta. This is done in order to confirm applicants’ eligibility conditions, including an annual gross salary, and certified copies of relevant qualifications, warrants, or necessary work experience.
Subsequently, employers also need to be involved in the process of the KEI. This is done so that single permit applications based on the KEI are processed on a fast-track basis to ensure that third-country nationals applying for managerial or highly-technical posts with Maltese companies may commence their employment as soon as possible. Further to this, the process reduces the time and resources required to find suitable candidates for highly-technical or managerial positions.