Hiring third-country nationals for hospitality roles — Skills Pass and permit timing

Two separate requirements

A Third Country National (TCN) worker hired into a covered hospitality role in Malta faces two distinct certification requirements running through two separate systems:

• The Pre-Departure Course — required as part of the Single Permit process, administered through skillspass.org.mt. This is the Identità requirement for non-EU/EEA workers obtaining a Single Permit.
• The Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass — required for the sector role itself, administered through tourism.skillspass.org.mt. This is the MTA-sector requirement for the covered occupation.

These two requirements have different timelines, different portals, and different fee structures. Neither automatically satisfies the other. An employer who manages only one of them risks a worker who holds a permit but cannot legally work in the role, or a worker who is certified in the sector but cannot legally enter Malta to take up the position.

The Pre-Departure Course timeline

The Pre-Departure Course is administered through the general Skills Pass portal at skillspass.org.mt and feeds into the Single Permit application. It is a two-phase process:

• Phase 1 — online modules: the candidate has up to 42 days from registration to complete the online component. A 14-day extension can be purchased if needed.
• Phase 2 — live interview: after passing Phase 1, the candidate books and attends a remote or in-person interview. The booking process adds further time depending on availability.

From registration to certificate, the process typically spans approximately 6 to 8 weeks under normal conditions. Treat this as a minimum — delays in Phase 2 booking or re-sits extend the timeline further.

See the cost page for the published fee figures for both phases.

The Skills Pass timeline

The Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass is administered separately through tourism.skillspass.org.mt. The candidate must:

• Register through the employer portal — the employer must initiate or sponsor the registration.
• Complete Phase 1 — the online theory assessment within the 42-day window.
• Complete Phase 2 — the practical assessment component, which may involve an in-person element depending on the occupation.
• Receive the certificate on passing both phases.

The online Phase 1 component can be completed remotely, which means a candidate can start this process before leaving their country of origin. Factor in the time for both phases, plus the possibility of a re-sit, when planning the hire.

Timing both processes

Per official guidance, employers are expected to inform TCN candidates of Skills Pass requirements early in the process to avoid administrative delays. The practical implication is straightforward: start both processes as soon as a job offer is made. Waiting until a permit application is already in progress to begin Skills Pass registration compresses a timeline that needs at least six to eight weeks of buffer, often more.

A useful working principle is to treat both the Pre-Departure Course and the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass as Day 1 tasks after a conditional job offer is accepted — not tasks that follow permit approval.

What the employer must provide

For the Skills Pass registration to proceed, the employer typically needs to provide:

• A valid job offer — confirming the covered role the candidate is being hired into.
• The establishment’s MTA licence number — required for Skills Pass registration to link the candidate to the correct MTA-licensed establishment.
• Employer portal access — the employer sponsors or initiates the registration through the tourism.skillspass.org.mt employer account.
• Permit-application documentation — for the Single Permit process, the employer provides the supporting documents required by Identità. Those requirements are set by Identità and are separate from the Skills Pass process.

Official Skills Pass portal