Why Thousands of Americans Are Looking to Malta for Their Plan B
Something has shifted among Americans in recent years. Not the occasional restlessness that has always accompanied life in a large, complicated country, but something more deliberate, more considered, and more urgent. The conversations I am having with American clients, entrepreneurs, professionals and families have changed in tone and in seriousness. People are not just dreaming about Europe anymore. They are planning. They are asking the right questions. And many of them are arriving at the same answer: Malta.
According to analysis by Global Citizen Solutions, an estimated 180,000 US citizens emigrated in 2025, the largest outbound migration of Americans in decades. Polling by Henley and Partners found that interest in second passports and residency options among Americans is at an all-time high. These are not fringe numbers. They represent doctors, founders, retirees, investors and creative professionals who have decided that having options is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity.
Malta, and specifically the Malta Citizenship by Merit programme, sits at the centre of this conversation for very good reason.
Why Americans Are Looking for a Plan B
Let me be direct about something: the appetite for a second citizenship among Americans is not driven by any single political event. It is driven by something deeper. Americans have watched, over the past decade, as the certainties that defined their country, political stability, institutional trust, personal freedom, economic predictability, have come under increasing pressure from multiple directions. The question of what happens if things get worse is no longer considered alarmist. It is considered prudent.
A Gallup poll tracking the desire to emigrate showed the figure at around ten percent during the Bush and Obama years. By late 2025 it had risen to one in four Americans. A Harris Poll in 2025 found that forty-two percent of Americans were considering leaving the country, including significant proportions of Baby Boomers and Gen X, demographics not traditionally associated with uprooting their lives. People are not panicking. They are planning.
Having a second citizenship is not about abandoning America. It is about having the freedom to choose. The Americans I work with love their country. They simply want options.
For high-net-worth individuals, the calculus is particularly clear. An EU citizenship does not require you to change a single thing about your daily life in the United States. It sits alongside your American passport, quietly and powerfully, ready when you need it. And the things it enables, living in Europe, working across the continent, opening businesses, accessing banking, buying property from Lisbon to Ljubljana, are available the moment you hold it.
Malta: The Island That Punches Well Above Its Weight
People are often surprised when I tell them how much Malta has to offer. It is a small country, yes. Twenty-seven kilometres long. But it is also one of the most strategically positioned, historically layered, and genuinely liveable places in the world.
Malta has been the crossroads of the Mediterranean for over three thousand years. The Knights of St. John transformed it into one of the great fortified cities of the world. The British spent over a century turning it into a model of common law governance, English-language education and parliamentary democracy. Today it is a full member of the European Union, part of the Schengen Area, uses the euro, and operates under a legal system that feels immediately familiar to any American who has dealt with English-speaking professionals in a British-derived framework.
The quality of life is genuinely exceptional. Over three hundred days of sunshine a year. A Mediterranean diet that is as good as it sounds. Private healthcare that is world-class and a fraction of American costs. International schools. A booming restaurant and cultural scene. And a pace of life that reminds you what it felt like before everything became urgent. Property is available at a range of price points, from elegant townhouses in Valletta to contemporary penthouses in Sliema or quiet farmhouses on the sister island of Gozo.
Most importantly for Americans: English is an official language. Malta is the only EU member state where English is genuinely the language of daily life, business, law and government. There is no language barrier. No cultural impenetrability. You land in Malta and you can get things done from day one.
Malta is the only EU country where English is a co-official language and the genuine language of business and law. For Americans, it is the most natural European home there is.
The Malta Citizenship by Merit Programme
Malta's approach to citizenship has evolved significantly. Following a 2025 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, Malta closed its previous investment-based citizenship pathway and replaced it with something arguably more interesting and more substantive: the Citizenship by Merit programme, governed by Article 10(9) of the Maltese Citizenship Act and introduced through Legal Notice 159 of 2025.
This is not a cheque-and-passport arrangement. It is a merit-based, discretionary naturalisation process that rewards individuals whose contributions, achievements, or expertise deliver genuine and measurable value to Malta or to humanity at large. Applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis by an independent Evaluation Board, with final approval resting at ministerial discretion.
The categories of merit that the programme recognises are broad and genuinely exciting for the kind of American client I work with. They include innovation and research and development, particularly in areas such as technology, artificial intelligence, life sciences and blue tech. They include strategic entrepreneurship, meaning the relocation of company headquarters to Malta, job creation, and startup development. They include philanthropy and sustainability projects. They include academic and cultural leadership, including recognised contributions in science, arts, sport and global thought leadership.
This is not a programme for passive investors. It is a programme for people who have built something, achieved something, or have a credible plan to do something meaningful in Malta. Which, as it turns out, describes a great many ambitious Americans perfectly.
The process involves two stages. First, a preliminary assessment to establish eligibility and the strength of the merit case. Second, a full application with supporting documentation demonstrating the nature and impact of the applicant's contribution, their genuine connection to Malta, and the value their citizenship would bring. Due diligence is thorough and the standards are high. This is as it should be. A Maltese passport is an EU passport. It carries weight, and Malta protects that weight carefully.
Critically for Americans: the United States permits dual nationality, and Malta does not require you to renounce your US citizenship. You keep your American passport. You add a Maltese, and therefore EU, one. Two of the world's most powerful travel documents, held simultaneously and entirely legally.
What a Maltese Passport Actually Gives You
This is where it gets genuinely exciting for Americans who are thinking seriously about their options. A Maltese passport is not just a travel document. It is a set of rights, opportunities and freedoms that simply do not exist for a US passport holder alone.
Live and work anywhere in Europe, without restriction. All twenty-seven EU member states are open to you. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, and twenty-one others. No visa. No work permit. No sponsorship. No time limit. You can move to Amsterdam next month if you choose, or keep it as an option you never use. The point is the choice is yours.
Open a business in Europe with full EU rights. As an EU citizen, you can incorporate and operate a company in any member state under the same conditions as a local national. This is transformative for American entrepreneurs and founders who want access to the European single market, which represents over four hundred and forty million consumers. Setting up in Malta itself is particularly attractive: the corporate tax environment is one of the most competitive in the EU, the regulatory framework is English-language and pragmatic, and the government is genuinely pro-business.
The EU single market is the largest in the world. As an EU citizen, you are not a visitor to it. You are a participant in it, with all the rights that entails.
Open bank accounts across Europe without the friction that American passport holders routinely encounter. One of the most consistent frustrations I hear from American clients is how difficult it has become to maintain financial relationships in Europe as a US citizen only. European banks have grown increasingly reluctant to serve American clients due to the compliance burden imposed by FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. An EU citizenship, particularly one held through a well-regarded EU member state like Malta, changes the dynamic significantly. You are no longer an American trying to open a European account. You are an EU citizen doing so.
Buy property anywhere in Europe without restriction. EU citizens can purchase real estate in any member state under the same conditions as local nationals. This means no foreign buyer restrictions, no additional taxes applied specifically to non-EU purchasers, and access to local mortgage markets. The property markets of southern Europe in particular, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Malta itself, offer extraordinary value compared to comparable locations in the United States.
Send your children to university across Europe at domestic rates. EU citizens attending universities in EU member states typically pay the same fees as local students, which in many countries means tuition of a few thousand euros a year rather than the tens of thousands that characterise American higher education. For families with children approaching university age, this alone represents a transformative financial consideration.
Access healthcare across the EU. The European Health Insurance Card gives EU citizens access to public healthcare in any member state under local terms and conditions. For Americans who have spent their lives navigating the complexity and cost of the US healthcare system, the contrast is significant.
Travel the world more freely. The Maltese passport ranks among the most powerful in the world, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to over one hundred and eighty countries. Combined with the American passport, which is itself powerful, a dual US-Maltese citizen has extraordinary global mobility.
The Plan B That Becomes a Plan A
I have noticed something in the conversations I have with American clients over the past couple of years. Many of them arrive thinking about Malta as a Plan B. An insurance policy. Something in the drawer for when they might need it. What consistently happens, often within the first visit to the island, is that it stops being a Plan B and starts becoming something they genuinely want.
Malta is not a sacrifice. It is not a fallback option with compromises attached. It is a Mediterranean island with extraordinary food, a warm and welcoming population, year-round sunshine, a thriving international business community, and a quality of life that many Americans tell me they had forgotten was possible. The island has a growing community of international entrepreneurs, digital nomads, financial professionals and creatives who have chosen it not because they had to, but because it is genuinely a wonderful place to live and work.
Malta does not feel like a compromise. It feels like an upgrade. I have watched American clients arrive sceptical and leave looking at apartments.
For American retirees, the value proposition is particularly compelling. The cost of living is lower than comparable Mediterranean destinations in France, Italy or Spain. Healthcare is excellent and affordable. The climate is kind. The pace of life is slower without feeling sleepy. And the English language is everywhere, which matters more than people realise when they are thinking about building a life somewhere new.
For American entrepreneurs and founders, Malta offers something rare: a genuinely pro-business EU jurisdiction where the regulatory environment is English-language, the government is accessible, and the tax framework is competitive. Setting up a European base of operations in Malta is not just logistically sensible. It opens doors across the continent that simply remain closed to businesses without an EU presence.
Why CSB Group
CSB Group has been one of Malta's most respected professional services firms for decades. We work across corporate services, tax, regulatory advisory, and residency and citizenship programmes. We have guided clients from across the United States and beyond through Malta's citizenship and residency pathways, and we understand the specific questions, concerns and ambitions that American clients bring to this process.
The Citizenship by Merit programme is not a form you fill in and post. It requires a carefully constructed case, built around the right evidence, presented in the right way, to an Evaluation Board that takes its responsibilities seriously. The strength of your application depends on the quality of the advice and preparation behind it. This is exactly the kind of work we do, and we do it with precision.
We also understand that citizenship is rarely the only thing an American client needs when they are thinking about Malta or Europe. They may need guidance on property acquisition. They may need corporate structuring for a European business. They may need banking introductions, tax advisory, or help navigating the practicalities of establishing a life or a business presence here. Through our network of partners, including Malta Sotheby's International Realty for property requirements, we are able to cover all of this under one roof, through a single trusted relationship.
We do not process applications. We build cases and guide people. There is a difference, and it matters enormously when the stakes are this high.
What I personally bring to this work is something that cannot be replicated by a checklist or a process flow. I have lived in Malta for years. I know this island, its people, its business community and its way of life from the inside. When an American client sits down with me and asks what it is really like to be here, I can tell them. Not from a brochure, and not from a website. From lived experience and from the relationships I have built across every sector of Maltese professional and social life.
If you are an American who is thinking seriously about your options, whether that is citizenship, residency, a European business base, or simply understanding what Malta might mean for your family's future, I would welcome the opportunity to have that conversation with you. These are not decisions to rush, and they are not decisions to make alone. But they are decisions that, made well and at the right time, can be genuinely life-changing.
Malta is not waiting for you to discover it. But when you do, I suspect you will wonder why it took you so long.
About the Author
Roger A. Strickland Jr. is a Director at CSB Group, Malta's leading multi-disciplinary professional services firm. His focus is straightforward: client satisfaction, relationship management, and immigration advisory. Roger guides individuals and families through Malta's citizenship and residency options with patience and precision, helping them make reasoned, well-informed decisions and ensuring that whatever they need, it gets done.
Roger is himself a long-standing resident of Malta, and knows the island not as an outsider looking in, but as someone who has lived it, built relationships across its business community and experienced its way of life first-hand. When an American client asks what Malta is really like, Roger answers from personal experience rather than from a brochure.
Over the years he has developed a broad and well-connected network across Malta's business, legal, financial and property sectors, and represents CSB Group at major international investment migration events across Europe and Asia. For Roger, each client engagement is not a transaction but the beginning of a relationship, one that he takes pride in maintaining long after the paperwork is done.
