Skills Pass employer compliance — legal obligations and penalties

The legal requirement

Under the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass framework, employers must not employ anyone in a covered role without a valid Skills Pass. The obligation rests with the employer. It is not simply a matter of the employee being required to hold the certificate — the employer is independently responsible for ensuring that the person working in the role is certified before work begins.

This means that “I didn’t know” or “the employee said they had one” is unlikely to be a sufficient defence. Employers are expected to verify certificates, not take them on trust — see how to verify a Skills Pass certificate for the process.

Covered roles

The Skills Pass requirement applies to roles at establishments that hold an MTA (Malta Tourism Authority) licence. If an establishment is MTA-licensed and a position is within the covered occupational scope, a valid Skills Pass is required for that person to work in that role.

Roles explicitly excluded from the requirement are published at the official excluded-roles list. That list is described by the official source as non-exhaustive — it gives examples of excluded roles rather than a complete map of every role that is or is not covered. If a specific role is borderline, do not infer an answer from the partial list. Check the official portal directly, or contact Skills Pass, before deploying someone in that role.

Occupation changes and the re-certification requirement

A Skills Pass certificate is issued for a specific occupation, not for the sector in general. If an employee moves to a different covered role within your establishment — whether through promotion, restructuring, or a change in duties — a new occupation-specific Skills Pass is required for the new role. The existing certificate covering their previous occupation does not carry over.

According to published guidance, the fee for an occupation change is €107.50. Verify this figure at the official portal before communicating it to employees, as fees may change.

Practically, this means employers should treat an internal role change as triggering the same pre-start verification obligation as a new external hire — confirming that the updated certificate is in place before the employee begins working in the new role.

When a certificate expires or a role changes

Per official guidance, certificates are tied to the holder and the occupation they were assessed for. Employers should track certificate status for each employee in a covered role and act promptly when a certificate expires or when a role change is identified:

• Expired certificate: the employee should not continue working in the covered role until a renewed or replacement certificate is in place. Contact Skills Pass for the correct renewal process.
• Role change: begin the re-certification process as soon as the new role is confirmed, before the employee starts in that position. The occupation-change fee applies.
• Staff departure: when a certified employee leaves, their certificate belongs to them — not the establishment. The vacancy in the covered role must be filled only with a certified replacement.

Informing TCN candidates early

Per official guidance, employers are expected to inform Third Country National candidates of Skills Pass requirements early in the hiring process to avoid administrative delays. For TCN workers, the Skills Pass sits alongside the Single Permit Pre-Departure Course as a separate concurrent requirement — both take time, and starting either process late introduces risk of the worker not being ready to begin on the agreed date. See hiring third-country nationals for the detailed timing guidance.

Official Skills Pass portal