Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/709569
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 JULY 2016 News 3 Overstayers apply for asylum after entering through business visa CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In Malta, the corporate service providers as- sist the agents in countries like the United Arab Emirates, a migratory hub for Asian workers, by suggest- ing that the applicants declare they are opening a subsidiary or branch of some parent company in their home country. "The family that stumps up the €10,000 fee usually has some fam- ily business, so they can legally cer- tify that the visa applicant wants to open a branch of the business in Malta – as long as the original company can be proven to have been in business for the past three years and provides a certificate of incorporation and three-year fi- nancials." Once they arrive in Malta, there are no checks on what business activities are being conducted – if any. "They will find some job and send the money back home, or if their visa allows, travel on to another Schengen country," the source said. In Dubai, the Maltese consulate uses outsourced partners such as VFS Global – a leading firm that serves 50 governments worldwide – to provide visa services to non- EU travellers. The visa processing fees are not prohibitive at 480 dirhams (€118) but the process will require proof of a bona fide business set-up. "This is where a Dubai 'agent' comes in, namely the middleman who has a corporate services con- tact in Malta to set up a company or issue a letter of invitation to the 'business traveller'," the source told MaltaToday. The process is entirely legal and this newspaper has no smoking gun of any wrongdoing. But the source who spoke to Mal- taToday said that "a business visa traveller who refuses to go back to his home country to renew a visa and instead claim asylum" cannot be considered as a bona fide case. In Dubai, the agent fixes these necessary arrangements for the business visa applicant which re- quire being paid up-front: a hotel confirmation for the entire 90-day stay, the air tickets, a European health insurance policy with mini- mum coverage of €30,000, a letter of invitation from the Maltese cor- porate services provider – usually they are inviting such business visa applicants to attend conferences or 'college' courses, or even to set up a small business. They also have to provide per- sonal bank statements for the last six months, and proof of employ- ment. "The proof of employment is eas- ily procured from a family member who is in business, to claim that they employ the applicant. The family member would have prob- ably financed the visa application and travel in the first place," the source said. Adding more veracity to the ap- plication, long-stay visa travellers can set up a Maltese company at a corporate services provider's ad- dress. The company they set up is then used as proof that they are coming to Malta on legal, employ- ment purposes. "Six months before applying for the business visa, a company is set up with minimum capital of some €1,500. The worker is director, sole shareholder, and secretary of the company. It is all above board," the source said. No checks on false letterboxes In the past years it has become evident that identity fraud is easily committed in the absence of prop- er enforcement. In 2015, MaltaToday found that a shuttered bar at 1, Marsa Road, in Marsa, was hosting 26 foreign na- tionals who submitted the derelict watering hole's address as proof of their residence in Malta, yet no checks were apparently made by the identity card office to confirm the veracity of these claims. Identity Malta said that 24 of these applications were submitted before January 2013 and insisted that "since the introduction of the National Identity Management System in 2013, no applications were registered under the men- tioned address". The names seen by this news- paper included nationalities from the Horn of Africa, Sudan, Nigeria, and also Canada, all retrieved from a search that listed the Marsa ad- dress. Hallowed 'IIP' not immune In an examination of the reg- istered addresses of those who acquired Maltese passports for €650,000 under the Invidiual In- vestor Programme, MaltaToday discovered that some applicants had been 'housed' inside holiday flats instead of purchasing a prop- erty worth at least €350,000 or renting a home for at least €16,000 annually for five years. The requirement to acquire a property as well as invest €150,000 in government bonds, must be fulfilled within four months from when the Letter of Approval in Principle is issued by Identity Mal- ta. "Identity Malta requires that a copy of the actual contract for purchase or lease of the property is provided," Identity Malta CEO Jonathan Cardona told MaltaTo- day. "A copy of the purchase note of the Malta Government Stock is also required. These submissions are done through the applicants' agents who are responsible for handling the application and en- suring that it is in order. Without these documents in hand the in- dividual is not allowed to proceed with the application." But photos of the Naxxar mai- sonette where people like Chi- nese billionaire Liu Zhongtian is registered, easily prove the theory that humble properties are being used as letterbox addresses so that Zhongtian's people in Malta would collect official mail. Zhongtian, worth at least $2.8 bil- lion, became the recipient of a vot- ing document without even having lived for six months in Malta in the last 18 months. Jonathan Cardona contested MaltaToday's suggestion that Identity Malta has not been veri- fying IIP applicants' property pur- chases. "All applicants, through their agents, provide a contract to Identity Malta of the property leased or bought. The application does not proceed unless Identity Malta is provided with a copy of a contract which meets the legal re- quirements." Labour's void on the fifth district has a new aspirant MATTHEW VELLA FRANCO Debono as a Labour candidate in 2018? It is possible. Here's how the former Nation- alist MP – who was enjoying a spot of fishing yesterday when MaltaToday got in touch with him – put it to me: "It would pain me to see another general elec- tion go by without me contest- ing," the 42-year-old criminal defence lawyer said. Not one to shy away from self- advancement, Debono made his mark in politics by breaking ranks with the PN administration and challenging head-on the former justice minister, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, for the slow pace of judi- cial and home affairs reform. In 2013 he voted against the budget measures appropriations bill, automatically pushing Law- rence Gonzi to call for general elections after losing his one-seat majority. Expelled from the PN, he was appointed Commissioner for Laws by Joseph Muscat's gov- ernment. Now it appears he is openly seeking an invitation from his former Aloysian classmate to run. "I love politics and when I was asked on One TV whether I would consider running again, I did not rule it out. Now I have street leaders and local council- lors from the fifth district call- ing me on the phone, saying they would back me if I were to run. "I have been proposing reforms on justice and home affairs since when I was an MP and much has happened on the back of those proposals. I have much to con- tribute." Debono went public in confirm- ing that he would be interested in contesting the general election on a Labour ticket, if the oppor- tunity presents itself. "Will I contest the fifth district on a Labour ticket? I'm consid- ering everything. I agree with Labour's political direction as it corresponds a lot with what I be- lieve in," Debono said – who in the past has not shied away from criticising the PL administration. He also spoke of his apprecia- tion for the support shown by Labour voters, including the 'soldiers of steel' – a moniker for old guard Labour activists. "I appreciate how several Labour supporters, including those sol- diers of steel, are encouraging me to join [Labour] and run for the elections. Sincere thanks," he said. He said that if he were to con- test, he'd be "the smallest" of them all but with the greatest will. "Together with my child- hood friends Joseph Muscat and Edward Zammit Lewis and the rest of the Labour team, I would give it all to see Malta moving forward and become the best in Europe," Debono said, echoing Muscat's political battlecry. So is Debono truly set to be, if elected, a Labour MP? He may not be suffering from entirely bad odds: Labour lost Marlene Farrugia, who set up her own Democratic Party, and also Kar- menu Vella, today European Commissioner, on this southern district. That leaves ample room for Debono for another stab on the same district that elected him in 2008, even pipping PN heavy- weight Louis Galea for the high- est vote count. Franco Debono: will not rule out running again for parliament