After touring the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean, Richard Long dropped anchor in Malta for his retirement.
“I want to escape the British winters, and Malta is the perfect kick-off point to reach places by boat,” says Long, 77, a former engineer in the oil industry from Southampton.
“The island is really well set up for yachts. And like Cyprus it’s anglicised, but better located – British values still survive 50 years after we handed over the island.”
He’s not the only one who likes Malta’s strategic location within Europe, its climate, high standard of living and the fact English is spoken.
And as other residency-through-investment schemes close in southern Europe – Spain is ending its golden visa in January and Greece has increased its minimum investment in the most popular locations to €800,000 (£661,000) – Malta now has the most popular such scheme, according to Henley & Partners, the migration advisory firm.
Long, an avid sailor, is living on his boat in Grand Harbour while looking for an apartment that will get him a visa for six-month stays. He is getting a retirement visa in Malta, known as the MRP, for which he must buy an immovable property (his boat won’t do) worth at least €275,000 (the minimum for the scheme in north Malta).
The father of two and grandfather of one is looking to buy a two-bedroom apartment in which to enjoy sundowners with sea views. He’s considering the Shoreline development in Kalkara, near Valletta, where he will pay €600,000-€700,000.
The MRP scheme is only open to over-55s who have the means to support themselves, such as pensions, and they must have private healthcare cover.
There are big tax benefits – it has a flat tax rate of 15pc on foreign income, subject to a minimum annual tax payment of €7,500.
“I can offset my private pension against this too,” Long says. There is no wealth tax, gift tax or inheritance tax in Malta, though a 5pc causa mortis duty applied to the value of assets passed on.
The cost of living in Malta is lower too. “Day-to-day expenses are around three-quarters that of the UK,” says Long. “There’s been no energy inflation: petrol is €1.20 a litre, boat fuel €1.”
But he admits Malta can be rather crowded and is getting to saturation point from tourism – especially when the cruise ships dock in Valletta, disgorging 4,000 people a time.
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