Malta Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass: a plain-language, source-linked guide

Who needs the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass

Official materials describe the Skills Pass as “an official verification framework established by the Government of Malta”, designed to confirm “the minimum basic level required to work in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Malta”. It is aimed at Third Country Nationals who plan to come to Malta to work in the tourism and hospitality industry, and is described as required “in addition to any other certification required by the competent immigration authorities” — in practice, alongside the separate, mandatory Pre-Departure Course that applies to first-time Single Permit applicants generally.

Not every hospitality-adjacent role is in scope. The official FAQ publishes a list of excluded roles — described explicitly as non-exhaustive — including accounts, marketing, HR, and store employees, and cleaners and kitchen porters. If your role might fall into one of these categories, see the published list of excluded roles and confirm directly with Skills Pass before you register and pay.

For the full breakdown of who the Skills Pass applies to, the published exclusions, and how this requirement sits alongside the Pre-Departure Course, see who needs the Skills Pass and what the Tourism & Hospitality track actually covers.

How the two-phase process works

Official sources describe the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass as a two-phase verification, completed through the official Skills Pass application:

1. Phase 1 — online courses and assessments (up to 42 days): self-paced online study covering a “Basic Customer Care Course and Assessment” and a “Basic Maltese Tourism Product Course and Assessment”, plus selecting your specific occupation from a published list (for example Luggage Porter, Receptionist, Bar Waiter, Commis Chef, or Commis de Rang) — or contacting support if your occupation isn’t listed.
2. Phase 2 — a live interview: official materials describe this as a roughly 30-minute interview, conducted via video conferencing, with true/false and open-ended questions assessing both your English proficiency and your competency in the occupation you selected. Other official wording places this interview “at the Institute of Tourism Studies or VFS centres” — read together, this suggests you may attend in person at one of these venues to use the video-conferencing setup there, though official materials don’t spell out that connection directly. Treat your own booking confirmation as the authoritative word on format and location.

Passing both phases is described as producing two separate certificates — a Pre-Departure Course Certificate and a Certificate of Full Skillspass achievement.

For a closer look at registration, the assessment structure, and what each phase actually involves, see how registration works and what Phase 1 and Phase 2 assess.

What it costs — published figures don’t cleanly add up

Unlike the Pre-Departure Course total (where official sources broadly agree on €250), the figures published for the Tourism & Hospitality track are harder to reconcile into a single combined total:

• The Pre-Departure Course itself is listed at €245.
• Selecting the Tourism and Hospitality sector is listed at €230.
• Separately, the same operational page states that booking the Phase 2 interview costs €250 — a figure that doesn’t obviously slot into the totals above without double-counting or an unexplained gap.

Re-sits for failed assessments are described as costing €100 each after one free re-sit, and a 14-day extension to the 42-day Phase 1 window is described as available for €50.

We are not attempting to reconcile these figures into a single “true” total — that would mean inventing an explanation the official sources don’t provide. See the full cost breakdown for the exact source quotes, the named discrepancy, and what to check on your own payment screen before paying anything.

The certificate, issued through Blockcerts

Official materials describe certificates for the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass as issued by the Institute of Tourism Studies and delivered digitally through Blockcerts — as a .json file you can import into the Blockcerts Wallet App, and also as a downloadable PDF. Certificates are described as something that can expire (if time-limited) or be revoked, and can be verified by sharing them either publicly or privately.

Passing both phases is described as resulting in two certificates — one for the Pre-Departure Course and a separate Certificate of Full Skillspass achievement. Official materials also describe a renewal pathway: existing pass holders may become eligible for a longer permit (two years after one year with no objections, or up to three years with improved qualifications).

See the full certificate page for the exact source wording on issuance, expiry, revocation, and renewal.

How this relates to the Pre-Departure Course

The Pre-Departure Course is a separate, mandatory requirement that Identità describes as applying to “all Third-Country Nationals (TCNs) applying for a Single Permit for the first time”, regardless of industry. The Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass sits on top of that — it is the additional, sector-specific layer that official materials describe as required when your role is in tourism or hospitality, “in addition to any other certification required by the competent immigration authorities”.

In practice, this means most readers of this guide will need to engage with both processes — the Pre-Departure Course because it is a general legal requirement, and the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass because of the specific sector they’re entering. If you’re not sure whether the general Pre-Departure Course requirement applies to you, Identità’s own guidance (linked from our map of official destinations) is the authoritative source to check.