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Malta Skills Pass Guide

Who needs the Tourism & Hospitality Skills Pass

What official sources say about who the Skills Pass applies to, how it sits alongside the separate Pre-Departure Course requirement, and how to work out whether your specific role is in scope.

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What official sources say the Skills Pass is for

Official materials describe the Tourism & Hospitality 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”. In plain terms: it is a Government-backed way of checking that someone entering tourism and hospitality work in Malta has a baseline of relevant knowledge and language ability before they start.

The people it is aimed at are described directly: “Third Country Nationals who plan to come to Malta to work in the tourism and hospitality industry”. If that description matches your situation — you are not an EU/EEA national, and your job offer is in this sector — this is very likely a requirement you need to plan around.

An additional layer, not a substitute

One detail in the official wording matters a great deal for planning purposes: the Skills Pass is described as required “in addition to any other certification required by the competent immigration authorities”. That phrase is doing real work — it tells you this requirement does not replace anything else you may already need to arrange.

In practice, that “other certification” will, for most readers of this guide, include the separate, mandatory Pre-Departure Course — a requirement Identità describes as applying to “all Third-Country Nationals (TCNs) applying for a Single Permit for the first time”, regardless of industry. The official Skills Pass registration sequence even folds the purchase of the Pre-Departure Course into the same step-by-step process as the Tourism & Hospitality track — see how registration works for how that plays out in practice.

If you skip past confirming whether the Pre-Departure Course applies to you — assuming the Skills Pass alone covers everything — you risk discovering a gap in your application much later than you’d want to. Identità’s own guidance is the authoritative place to check that requirement directly.

Not every hospitality-adjacent role is in scope

Official materials publish a list of roles the Skills Pass excludes — explicitly described as non-exhaustive, meaning it is a starting point for self-assessment rather than a complete map of every excluded job title. See the published list of excluded roles for the exact wording and what “non-exhaustive” means for your own situation.

If your role sits in a grey area — for example, an administrative or back-of-house position at a hospitality establishment — the most reliable path is to ask your prospective employer how the role is classified, or to contact Skills Pass directly, before you register and pay for a requirement that may not apply to your specific job.

A simple way to work out whether this applies to you

  1. Check your sector. Is your job offer in tourism or hospitality, or with an establishment that holds an MTA licence? If yes, the Skills Pass is likely relevant.
  2. Check the excluded-roles list. Does your specific job title appear there? If yes — and your role genuinely matches the description, not just the label — this particular track may not apply, though remember the list is described as non-exhaustive.
  3. Check the separate Pre-Departure Course requirement. Most first-time Single Permit applicants need this regardless of sector — confirm it with Identità so you don’t miss it while focused on the sector-specific layer.
  4. When in doubt, ask before you pay. Both your employer and Skills Pass can confirm your specific situation — and there is no published automatic-refund policy if you register for something that turns out not to apply to you.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Skills Pass a replacement for the Pre-Departure Course?
No. Official materials describe the Skills Pass as required "in addition to any other certification required by the competent immigration authorities" — language that points to it sitting alongside, not instead of, the separate, mandatory Pre-Departure Course that generally applies to first-time Single Permit applicants. If you're not sure whether the Pre-Departure Course requirement applies to you, Identità's own guidance is the authority to check.
What if my role doesn't appear on the excluded-roles list, but it also doesn't sound like a typical hospitality job?
The official FAQ describes its excluded-roles list as non-exhaustive — meaning roles can exist that aren't named on either side of the line. Rather than guess based on a job title alone, the most reliable step is to ask your prospective employer (who will know how the role is classified for licensing purposes) or to contact Skills Pass directly before you register and pay for a requirement that may not apply to you.
Does it matter whether my employer holds an MTA licence?
Official Skills Pass materials elsewhere describe the broader Skills Pass requirement as applying when a candidate "will be working within the Hospitality Industry or with an establishment that has an MTA licence". That framing — industry plus licensing status — is a useful signal for working out whether the Tourism & Hospitality track applies to your specific job offer, though your employer or Skills Pass directly remain the authorities on your individual case.

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