Retiring in Malta from Australia: costs, the Retirement Programme, pension and health cover (2026)

Who Malta suits, and what to weigh up

Malta suits you if you want a small European base with both of Australia’s agreements behind you. One, a social security agreement, covers your pension. The other gives you urgent public care on a visit, under a reciprocal health care agreement. English is one of Malta’s two official languages, and Smartraveller describes medical care there as good. At the end of 2025, 3,009 people were being paid the Age Pension in Malta.

It also suits Maltese-Australians going home. A Maltese citizen can live there without a visa, and Malta’s citizenship law lets some people born overseas to Maltese families register as citizens.

Rent is what makes Malta expensive. Our Sliema estimate for a couple is almost double the Age Pension’s base rate. The health agreement covers visitors for their first 6 months, not people who live there. Without a Maltese or EU passport, the long-stay route is the Malta Retirement Programme, which asks for health insurance, a qualifying home and a minimum tax bill every year.

Smartraveller suggests a trial move of 6 to 12 months before you commit. In Malta, a visitor’s 90 days cover a winter, not a trial year.

What a month costs

Our estimate for a month in Sliema is about A$7,130 for a couple and A$5,480 for one person, rent included.

A month in Sliema	Couple	One person
Rent, one-bedroom flat in the centre	A$2,630	A$2,630
Living costs (food, transport, bills)	A$2,860	A$1,590
Eating out, local trips and extras (30%)	A$1,640	A$1,260
Total	A$7,130	A$5,480

How a month in Malta compares

For a couple

Malta, our estimate

A$7,130

Comfortable in Australia

A$6,580

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$4,040

About A$550 a month more than a comfortable month in Australia.

For one person

Malta, our estimate

A$5,480

Comfortable in Australia

A$4,680

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$2,680

About A$800 a month more than a comfortable month in Australia.

Not built the same way: Australia's figure (ASFA Retirement Standard, comfortable, June quarter 2026) assumes you own your home and includes health insurance; our estimate for Malta includes rent and leaves health insurance out. Age Pension: the most paid in Australia from 20 September 2026; living overseas for good, the base rate is about A$3,710 a month for a couple and A$2,460 for one person.

Our estimate: Numbeo’s living costs for one person (without rent) plus a one-bedroom city-centre rent, plus 30% for eating out, local trips and extras. For a couple, living costs times 1.8. Converted at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s average exchange rate for the 12 months to September 2026 (A$1 = 0.5957 euros). Health insurance is not included. We use Numbeo’s Sliema page, last updated 20 October 2026. Short furnished lets usually cost more than the long-term rent in this table.

Valletta, the capital across the harbour, costs less, mostly in rent. Numbeo’s figures (updated 20 October 2026) put a one-bedroom flat in central Valletta at about 1,263 euros a month, about A$2,120 at the RBA’s 12-month average rate. Worked out the same way, a month in Valletta comes to about A$6,220 for a couple and A$4,680 for one person.

Against the Age Pension. In Australia, the most the Age Pension pays is about A$2,680 a month for one person and A$4,040 for a couple. After 12 weeks away it drops to the base rate: about A$2,460 a month for one person and A$3,710 for a couple, before tax (rates from 20 September 2026). That leaves a couple about A$3,420 a month short of our Sliema estimate. One person is about A$3,020 short. Our guide to living overseas on the Age Pension sets out the numbers.

What costs more than you’d expect. Health insurance sits outside our estimate, and the Retirement Programme asks for cover of at least 100,000 euros (about A$168,000). Insurers set their own prices and age limits. The programme also brings a minimum tax of 7,500 euros a year (about A$12,590), plus 500 euros (about A$840) for a partner, whatever your income. Add a 2,500 euro application fee (about A$4,200) in the first year and flights home with at least one stop. Summer highs at Luqa average about 31°C in July and August, so air conditioning matters.

Renting long term. Malta’s Housing Authority says a long let runs for at least 1 year. On a 1-year lease the first 6 months are fixed; after that a tenant can leave with a month’s notice, and longer leases fix longer periods. The owner registers the lease with the Housing Authority within 30 days of the start. For a residence card, Identità wants that registration certificate, plus a form the landlord fills in and a Maltese lawyer or notary attests. Before you sign, ask the landlord to confirm both, what the deposit is and who pays for repairs. At our Sliema rent, a year comes to 18,768 euros (about A$31,510), well over the programme’s minimum.

Visas for Australians

Visiting. Smartraveller says Australians can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen area, and Malta is part of it. The Entry/Exit System (EES) takes your fingerprints and photo when you arrive; it is free. Smartraveller warns about fake websites that charge a fee to register for EES, or sell ETIAS authorisations. ETIAS has no confirmed start date. Malta isn’t one of the Schengen countries with an extra bilateral visa waiver for Australians.

Living there on a pension. The Malta Retirement Programme is a special tax status for pensioners, set out in rules made under Malta’s Income Tax Act. Since 1 January 2020 it has been open to any nationality, though Maltese nationals can’t use it. Some websites say you must be 55 or over; the rules set no age. They ask that:

• your pension is paid into Malta and makes up at least 75% of your taxable income
• you own a property bought for at least 275,000 euros (about A$462,000), or rent one for at least 9,600 euros a year (about A$16,120 at the RBA’s 12-month average rate). On Gozo or in the south of Malta, the figures are 220,000 euros (about A$369,000) and 8,750 euros a year (about A$14,690)
• you hold health insurance covering all the risks Malta’s public system covers, for you and your dependants, across the EU
• you spend at least 90 days a year in Malta, averaged over 5 years, and no more than 183 days in a calendar year in any other country, Australia included
• you are not domiciled in Malta and don’t intend to be within 5 years, and you are a “fit and proper person”.

The south means 23 localities named in the rules, Marsaskala and Marsaxlokk among them. Foreign income you bring into Malta is taxed at 15%, with a minimum of 7,500 euros a year (about A$12,590) plus 500 euros (about A$840) for each dependant. Income the programme doesn’t cover is taxed at 35%. The application fee is 2,500 euros (about A$4,200).

You don’t apply yourself. The rules say an authorised registered mandatary applies for you: a Maltese lawyer, notary, legal procurator, accountant or member of certain professional institutes, registered with the Commissioner for Revenue. The rules define a pension in terms of past employment, annuities and retirement schemes, so ask whether your Age Pension or a super income stream counts. Our guide to retirement visas by age compares other countries.

From tax status to a residence card. Once the Commissioner for Revenue approves the tax status, you apply to Identità, the agency that issues residence cards, while you are legally in Malta. Its FAQ (updated August 2026) lists a passport valid for 8 more months, the tax status certificate, your registered lease or title deed, and the health insurance. The fee is 100 euros (about A$170), and renewals are issued for 2 years at a time.

What it doesn’t allow. The programme is for people not in a job, and Identità says working without an employment permit can cost you the card. Only you, your dependants and household staff may live in the qualifying home, so it can’t be let to anyone else. The status ends if your pension stops arriving in Malta, your insurance lapses or you leave the home. Taking long-term or permanent residence in Malta also ends it, so the programme doesn’t lead there by itself.

If most of your income isn’t a pension. The Global Residence Programme is the other tax route for people from outside the EU, with the same property and rent thresholds. Its minimum tax is 15,000 euros a year (about A$25,180). The fee is 6,000 euros (about A$10,070), or 5,500 euros (about A$9,230) for a home bought in the south. You also need to be able to communicate in English or Maltese.

Partners. With no age limit in the rules, a younger partner isn’t shut out. A spouse, or a partner in what the rules call a “stable and durable relationship”, counts as a dependant. Each dependant adds 500 euros (about A$840) to the minimum tax. Identità says eligible family members can be included in the residence application.

With a Maltese or other EU passport. A Maltese citizen can live in Malta without a visa. Smartraveller says Malta recognises dual nationality. A citizen of another EU country can live there on EU rules with health insurance and enough income, and may need to register after 3 months, the EU’s Your Europe site says.

Malta’s Community Malta Agency handles citizenship. It says people born abroad can apply to register as citizens if they descend in a direct line from someone born in Malta whose parent was also born in Malta. A husband or wife of a Maltese citizen can apply after 5 years of marriage, if still living together. Applications can be made through Malta’s missions overseas.

Documents to get in Australia before you go. Identità asks for birth and marriage certificates to be apostilled, with a certified translation if they aren’t in English or Maltese. The rules ask that you are a “fit and proper person”, so ask your mandatary whether a police certificate is needed. An AFP national police check costs A$57, and the AFP says most online checks arrive within a few days. DFAT puts an apostille on Australian public documents for A$105 each from 1 January 2026, at a passport office by appointment or by mail. Malta has been part of the Apostille Convention since 1968. DFAT says a notary public certifies copies for use overseas; a JP witnesses signatures and statutory declarations.

Visa rules change. Malta’s high commission in Australia, Identità, or a licensed visa agent in Malta can confirm the current rules and timings. Read up on visa and property scams before you pay anyone.

Your Age Pension and Medicare in Malta

Services Australia says your Age Pension can keep paying while you are overseas. After 6 weeks away the Energy Supplement stops and your Pensioner Concession Card is cancelled. The Pension Supplement stops completely at 12 weeks (since 20 September 2026). If you lived in Australia less than 35 years between age 16 and pension age, your rate can be reduced after 26 weeks. The 6, 12 and 26-week rules explain each step.

Malta is a social security agreement country, so you can generally claim the Age Pension from Malta instead of having to be in Australia on the day you claim. Services Australia’s factsheet on the agreement says your years living in Australia and your years of social security cover in Malta can be added together to reach the 10 years the Age Pension needs. If you live outside Australia when you claim, you generally need at least 12 months of Australian residence between 16 and pension age, 6 months of it in one stretch. You can lodge the claim at a Maltese social insurance office, up to 13 weeks early. A Maltese retirement pension, if you worked there, is Malta’s decision. If you move for good, the Age Pension pays the base rate only from the day you leave: A$29,520.40 a year single, A$44,506.80 for a couple.

Medicare never pays for treatment overseas, but Malta is one of Australia’s 11 reciprocal health care countries. Services Australia says the agreement covers essential care that can’t wait until you get home, in Malta’s public system, within 6 months of the day you arrive. That means hospital treatment, medicines and nursing in a government hospital, public outpatient and health centre care, emergency ambulance and urgent dental care. It doesn’t cover routine dental work, and Smartraveller adds that it doesn’t cover ongoing treatment of existing conditions or private hospitals. Take your passport and Medicare card.

If you are an Australian citizen and move overseas, you can still use Medicare for treatment in Australia, on visits home, for up to 5 years after you leave. Visits home do not restart that clock. After 5 years, you re-enrol when you move back to live. Permanent residents are different: their enrolment ends 12 months after they leave. Our guide to Medicare overseas has the detail.

Health care and insurance

Smartraveller says the standard of medical facilities and care in Malta is generally good but can be expensive. For serious illness or injury, you may need to be evacuated to the United Kingdom or another European country, and medical evacuation is very expensive.

What’s close by. Malta’s main public general hospital is at Msida, a short drive from Sliema and Valletta, and Gozo has its own general hospital in Victoria. For an emergency anywhere in Malta or Gozo, call 112. From Gozo, specialist care in Msida means the ferry as well as the drive. Care beyond what Malta has means a flight to the UK or elsewhere in Europe. Smartraveller’s page on retiring overseas says a medical repatriation can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Your medicines. Smartraveller says some medicines sold in Australia aren’t available overseas or are illegal even on prescription, and suggests carrying your prescription and a doctor’s letter. Malta’s high commission can say whether a particular medicine is allowed. Our guide to taking PBS medicines overseas covers the Australian side.

Which cover. For a winter away, the reciprocal agreement covers urgent public care, and Smartraveller says you still need travel insurance for the rest, evacuation included. The usual type is travel insurance for a single long trip; ask whether it covers your full stay at your age and any conditions you already have. Our guide to travel insurance for long stays covers trip caps.

If you live there, the Retirement Programme asks for health insurance, and the usual type is international health insurance. Identità’s minimum is 100,000 euros of cover (about A$168,000), inpatient and outpatient, with hospital care in Malta and other European countries. It wants proof of continuous cover at each renewal, because gaps can affect it. Our guide to international health insurance by age covers the age limits. If you’d like help working out where to start, book a free planning session on Zoom.

Smartraveller also says traffic, construction and dust from North Africa can make the air poor, which matters if you have a heart or lung condition.

Where Australians live

There is no official count of where Australians settle in Malta. These are the main areas to compare. Driving times are rough, and traffic stretches them.

Area	What it’s like	Getting around	Hospital	Airport
Sliema and St Julian’s	Busy harbour towns; our cost base	Flat seafront promenade; ferry to Valletta	Msida, about 10 minutes	About 20 minutes
Valletta	The capital, a walled city on a peninsula	Steep streets and steps; the main bus terminal	Msida, about 10 minutes	About 15 minutes
St Paul’s Bay (Buġibba and Qawra)	A large bay town in the north	Mostly flat along the bay; buses	Msida, about 25 minutes	About 35 minutes
Mellieħa	A hilltop village above a sandy bay in the far north	Hilly; car or bus	Msida, about 35 minutes	About 45 minutes
The south (Marsaskala, Marsaxlokk)	Fishing villages; lower Retirement Programme thresholds	Flat waterfronts; buses	Msida, about 25 minutes	About 15 minutes
Gozo	The smaller, quieter island; lower thresholds	Hilly; car or bus; ferry to Malta	General hospital in Victoria	About 1 and a half hours, with the ferry

Sliema and St Julian’s have the highest rents in our figures; costs on this page are based on Sliema.

Valletta, across the harbour, has lower rent in Numbeo’s figures. Its streets run steeply down to the water, often in steps, which matters with bad knees.

St Paul’s Bay and Mellieħa are in the north, further from the hospital and the airport.

The south, around Marsaskala and Marsaxlokk, has fishing villages with flat waterfronts, close to the airport.

Gozo has its own general hospital. Ferries cross from Ċirkewwa, and a fast ferry runs from Valletta, but Smartraveller says weather can delay or cancel Gozo crossings.

If you are weighing Malta against its neighbours, see our pages on Italy and Cyprus.

Renting or buying a home

Foreigners can buy in Malta, with limits. Malta’s law on property bought by non-residents says an Australian without long-term residence needs a permit, known as an AIP, to buy. Without one, the law makes the purchase void. Using the home against the permit’s conditions can bring a fine of up to 23,000 euros (about A$38,610) or double the property’s value, whichever is the higher.

What the permit allows. One property, as a residence for you and your family and for no other purpose. You can’t own other property in Malta, and the permit asks you to buy within 6 months. The permit fee is 232 euros (about A$390). There is also a minimum value, which the law adjusts every year in line with a property price index; ask a notary for this year’s figure.

Special Designated Areas. In these zones, listed in the law, anyone can buy without a permit, whatever their nationality. A notary can say whether a property is in one.

With a Maltese or EU passport. A Maltese or other EU citizen who hasn’t lived in Malta for 5 years needs a permit only for a second home, not for a main home. A husband or wife of any nationality buying with a Maltese or EU citizen on the same deed counts as resident.

Duty and the notary. Malta’s duty on property transfers is 5% of the price, collected through the notary who publishes the deed. On a 275,000 euro home (about A$462,000) that is 13,750 euros (about A$23,080); some buyers get lower rates. Smartraveller suggests reviewing your will if you buy property overseas.

The people to ask are a notary in Malta and a property lawyer acting for you, not the seller. Our guide to keeping, renting or selling the family home covers the Australian side.

Tax: there and at home

Malta’s Income Tax Act treats you as resident if you live there, apart from temporary absences the Commissioner for Revenue accepts as reasonable. If you are resident but not domiciled there, foreign income is taxed only when it is received in Malta, and foreign capital gains aren’t taxed. On the Retirement Programme, foreign income you bring in is taxed at 15%, with the 7,500 euro minimum (about A$12,590).

On a small income the minimum decides the bill. A couple’s base-rate Age Pension of A$44,506.80 is about 26,513 euros a year. If the programme accepted it as a pension, 15% would be about 3,977 euros (about A$6,680), so the 7,500 euro minimum (about A$12,590) would apply instead.

Australia and Malta have had a tax agreement since 1985. Its pensions article says pensions, government pensions included, paid to a resident of one country are taxable only in that country. How that works for the Age Pension, super or rent from a house in Australia depends on the details.

On the Australian side, if the ATO treats you as a foreign resident, you lose the tax-free threshold. Australian income is then taxed at 30% from the first dollar up to A$135,000 (2025-26 rates), with no Medicare levy. Sell your Australian home while you’re a foreign resident and there’s no capital gains tax main residence exemption, apart from narrow life events. Our guides to whether you pay tax in Australia when you retire overseas and foreign resident tax rates go through both. Talk to a registered tax agent in Australia and a tax adviser in Malta before you go; the answer turns on your own income and assets.

Money and banking

Malta uses the euro. Services Australia can pay your Age Pension into an Australian bank account, or into a euro account in Malta once you lodge its international bank account form (AUS178).

The Retirement Programme adds a rule here. All of the pension shown in your application has to be received in Malta, or the status ends. Ask your mandatary how that works for each payment you get, including any from super.

A local account. Each bank in Malta sets its own checks for foreigners, so ask what it wants to see, such as a residence card or proof of where your money comes from.

Moving money. The options are a transfer from your Australian bank, a currency transfer service, or cash from an ATM on an Australian card. Each charges a fee and builds a margin into its exchange rate; ask for both. Smartraveller says thieves target people at ATMs, and that cash of 10,000 euros or more (about A$16,790) must be declared when you enter, pass through or leave Malta.

Currency swings. The pension arrives in Australian dollars and gets spent in euros. At the RBA’s 12-month average rate, 1,000 euros is about A$1,680. If the Australian dollar fell 10%, the same 1,000 euros would cost about A$1,870.

Day to day

Language. Malta’s Constitution makes Maltese the national language, with Maltese and English both official. Anyone can deal with the government in either and get a reply in the same language. Court cases run in Maltese unless the law allows English.

Getting around without driving. Smartraveller calls the public bus network generally reliable, though some routes are very crowded and full buses can pass stops. Buses are free with a personalised Tallinja card. Ferries link Valletta with Sliema and Cospicua, and Malta with Gozo. Taxis from the airport charge set, regulated prices.

Driving. Smartraveller says your Australian licence works for one year from arrival, though a digital licence may not be accepted. To keep driving after that, you exchange it for a Maltese one. It calls road travel hazardous: roads are narrow and congested, flood in heavy rain, and drivers often skip indicators and ignore crossings.

Safety. Smartraveller’s advice for Malta is to exercise normal safety precautions (updated 7 October 2026). It mentions bag-snatching and pickpocketing on buses, at the Valletta bus terminal and in other busy places, and theft from parked cars. Drug penalties are severe. Methanol in badly made drinks has killed people overseas, Australians among them, so Smartraveller says to drink only branded, sealed drinks. Smartraveller also says hunting with guns is common in rural Malta, in April and usually from 1 September to 31 January. Hunting areas are rarely marked and can overlap country walks.

The weather, month by month. Malta’s Met Office normals for Luqa, the airport (1961 to 1990, published by the World Meteorological Organization):

Month	Average high	Average low	Rain (mm)
January	15.2°C	9.2°C	89
February	15.5°C	9.3°C	61
March	16.7°C	10.1°C	41
April	19.1°C	11.9°C	23
May	23.3°C	14.9°C	7
June	27.5°C	18.4°C	3
July	30.7°C	21.0°C	0
August	30.7°C	21.8°C	7
September	28.0°C	20.1°C	40
October	24.2°C	17.1°C	90
November	20.1°C	13.9°C	80
December	16.7°C	11.0°C	112

Winter is mild and wet, and summer close to dry. These normals are decades old, so recent summers may run hotter.

Public holidays. Malta has 14 public holidays on top of Sundays, and government offices close on them. Five are national days, among them Independence Day on 21 September; most of the rest are church feasts, such as St Paul’s Shipwreck on 10 February and the Assumption on 15 August.

Making friends. A class or a parish event gives you the same faces each week. If you’re going alone, see retiring overseas single.

Getting there and coming home

BITRE’s June 2026 airline figures show no non-stop flight between Australia and Malta. Expect at least one stop, usually in the Middle East or Asia, and a full day of travel or more.

Malta is 10 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne in our summer, and 8 hours behind in our winter. From Perth, it is 7 hours behind in our summer and 6 in our winter. A call home at 8 in the morning in Malta reaches the east coast in the late afternoon.

On the Retirement Programme, time at home is capped at 183 days in a calendar year. Medicare covers citizens on visits home for up to 5 years after they move.

Your first steps

One order that works, from a first look to living there.

1. Ask for help first. Book a free planning session on Zoom, or contact our team. Once we understand your situation, we can point you in the right direction.
2. Spend a winter in Malta on a visitor’s 90 days, somewhere you could rent long term. See trying it before you move.
3. Talk it through with your partner and family, including who would fly over if you got sick. See talking to family.
4. If you have Maltese-born family, gather the birth certificates and ask the Community Malta Agency whether you can register as a citizen. See moving overseas for good.
5. Put your own numbers against the pension, adding the programme’s minimum tax and health insurance. See taking your Age Pension overseas.
6. Work out what happens to the house, and whether it counts for the pension while you’re away.
7. See your GP, check your medicines are allowed in Malta, and get a doctor’s letter. See retiring overseas with a health condition.
8. Get quotes for health insurance that meets Identità’s 100,000 euro minimum (about A$168,000). Our health cover guides list what to ask.
9. Order a police check if it’s needed, and apostilles on your birth and marriage certificates. Our visa guides cover other countries’ rules.
10. Find a rental of at least a year, with a landlord willing to register it. See the long stay.
11. Apply for the tax status through an authorised registered mandatary, then for the residence card from Identità.
12. Tell Services Australia you’re going, and decide where the pension is paid. Our Age Pension guides cover each step.
13. Keep a plan for coming home, and know how the pension and Medicare restart. See coming home.

Questions people ask

Can I retire to Malta from Australia?

Yes, through the Malta Retirement Programme if your pension is at least 75% of your income and you rent or buy a qualifying home, from 9,600 euros a year in rent (about A$16,120). It has a minimum tax of 7,500 euros a year (about A$12,590). Without it, you can stay 90 days in any 180 across Schengen.

How long can Australians stay in Malta?

Up to 90 days in any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, without a visa. Longer takes a residence card, for example through the Retirement Programme. A Maltese or EU passport lets you stay without either.

Can an Australian live permanently in Malta?

On the Retirement Programme you can keep renewing: Identità issues renewals for 2 years at a time while you meet the rules. Taking long-term or permanent residence ends the programme’s tax status. Maltese citizenship, by descent or after 5 years of marriage to a Maltese citizen, is the other route.

What are the Malta retirement visa requirements?

A pension paid into Malta that makes up at least 75% of your income, and a qualifying home. You also need health insurance of at least 100,000 euros (about A$168,000), at least 90 days a year in Malta, and an authorised mandatary to apply. The rules set no minimum age.

How much money do you need to retire in Malta?

Our estimate for a month in Sliema is about A$7,130 for a couple and A$5,480 for one person, rent included. Valletta is about A$6,220 for a couple. Health insurance and the Retirement Programme’s minimum tax come on top.

Does Malta have a Medicare agreement with Australia?

Yes, for visitors. The reciprocal health care agreement covers essential public care within 6 months of arriving, and Smartraveller says to have travel insurance as well. It doesn’t cover people who live there, and the Retirement Programme asks for health insurance.

Can an Australian buy a house in Malta?

Yes, usually with a permit (AIP) for one home, as your own residence, above a minimum value set each year. In Special Designated Areas anyone can buy without a permit. Duty is 5% of the price, paid through the notary.

Can I get Maltese citizenship by descent in Australia?

Possibly. The Community Malta Agency says people born abroad can register if they descend in a direct line from someone born in Malta whose parent was also born in Malta. You can apply through Malta’s missions overseas, and Malta recognises dual nationality.