PASSPORT ġ S.L.61.02 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 61.02
PASSPORT REGULATIONS
28th September, 1993
LEGAL NOTICE 131 of 1993, as amended by Legal Notice 59 of 2001. 
Title. 
To whom a 
passport may be 
issued.
Amended by:
L.N. 59 of 2001.
2. (1) Passports may be issued to - 
( a ) citizens of Malta; or
( b ) other Commonwealth citizens,
on application to the passport officer.
(2) ( a ) For the purposes of this regulation the expression
"Commonwealth citizen" shall be construed in
accordance with the provisions of article 28 of the
Constitution of Malta.
Cap. 61.
( b ) For the purposes of this and other subsequent
regulations, the expression ''passport officer'' means
the Director (Civil Registration) or any officer of the
Department of Civil Registration, designated by the
Director (Civil Registration) to act on his behalf for the
purposes of these regulations and of the Passport
Ordinance.
Application forms.
Amended by:
L.N. 59 of 2001.
3. (1) Every person of sixteen years of age or over applying
for a passport shall complete in his or her own handwriting an
application on a form known as Form A, obtainable from the
Passport Office.
(2) In the case of a child under sixteen years of age, a separate
passport is required. A form known as Form A, obtainable from the
passport officer, shall be completed by the father and the mother of
by the tutor or by the curator of the child, in their own handwriting.
(3) Children under eighteen years of age shall not be granted
passport facilities without the written consent of both their father
and their mother or, if both the father and the mother are dead, of
their tutor/tutoress or curator/curatrix. If, while either the father or
the mother is alive, any other person claims to be the tutor/tutoress
or curator/curatrix of the child, he or she must produce to the
passport officer a copy of the court order committing the child to
his or her tutorship or custody.
(4) If a person who desires to complete an application form is
unable to write, the person completing the declaration as
recommender of the applicant may complete the application form
in his or her handwriting on behalf of the applicant.
Declaration in 
support of 
application.
4. (1) The recommender’s declaration in support of the
application contained in the said forms must be completed and
signed by a Maltese citizen who is a minister of religion, or a
medical or legal practitioner, or a civil servant at the discretion of
the passport officer, or a bank manager or any other person who, in
2 ġ S.L.61.02 PASSPORT
the opinion of the passport officer is of similar standing; the
recommender must have been personally acquainted with the
applicant for at least two years immediately preceding the signing
of the declaration:
Provided that if the person applying for a passport resides
abroad or is at the moment of the application outside Malta, the
declaration in support of such application may be completed and
signed by any Commonwealth citizen who is qualified for this
purpose as provided in this regulation.
(2) If there is no person available who is qualified to complete
the recommender’s declaration as provided in sub-regulation (1) of
this regulation, the passport officer may, at his discretion, dispense
with the completion and signing thereof.
Application to be 
lodged with the 
passport officer.
5. (1) When an application form has been completed in every
particular, it shall be lodged with the passport officer together with
the photographs and other documents required by the passport
officer as stated in the relative application form. The photographs
and documents accompanying an application form shall become the
property of the Government as soon as lodged with the passport
officer.
(2) When a surname is composed of more than one surname
and all surnames are altogether of a greater length than is
technically possible to be written down on the passport, the
passport officer may limit such surnames as are to be written down
on the passport, in such manner that he shall always include the
predominating surname or surnames:
Provided that in the case of a married woman who assumes
her husband’s surname and adds her maiden surname thereto the
husband’s surname shall be regarded as the predominating
surname.
Joint passports.
Amended by:
L.N. 59 of 2001.
6. The particulars of a minor under sixteen years of age may
be included in or added to a passport held by the father, mother,
tutor/tutoress or curator/curatrix of the minor after the 1st April,
2001, only on such passports as would still be valid on or after that
date, and no joint passport may be issued on or after that date.
Passports remain 
Government 
property and may 
be invalidated, etc.
7. Passports issued through the passport officer shall remain
the property of the government and may at any time after issue be
invalidated, withdrawn or cancelled.
Applicability of 
passports. 
8. (1) Passports shall be available only for travel to the
countries named therein, but shall not exempt the holder thereof
from compliance with any immigration law or regulation in force in
any territory or from the necessity of obtaining a visa or permit
where required so to do by laws of any territory.
(2) At any time after the issue of a passport, the passport
officer may, at his discretion, and on application being made to him
by the holder thereof on a form known as Form D, obtainable from
the passport officer, endorse any valid passport for travel to other
countries in addition to those already named therein.
(3) The possession of a passport issued in Malta does not
PASSPORT ġ S.L.61.02 3
entitle the holder thereof to re-enter Malta.
Period of validity 
and extension of 
passports.
9.  (1) Passports issued by the passport officer shall, subject
to the provisions of regulation 7 of these Regulations - 
(i) be valid for a period of ten years from the date of
issue for persons who are sixteen years of age
and over;
(ii) be valid for a period of five years from the date
of issue for minors who are ten years of age but
who have not yet attained their sixteenth
birthday;
(iii) be valid for a period of two years from the date
of issue for minors who have not attained their
tenth birthday:
Provided that the passport officer may, at his discretion,
specify in any such passports a shorter period of validity.
(2) Where a passport has been issued for a period shorter than
that specified in sub-regulation (1), it may be extended for the
remainder of the specified period.
(3) On the expiry of the validity periods as specified in sub-
regulation (1), or when there is no further space available in the
passport for endorsements or visas for countries to which the holder
intends to travel, an application shall be made for a new passport.
(4) When an application is made for a new passport and the old
passport is produced to the passport officer, he may, at his
discretion, and if the application form is otherwise satisfactorily
completed, waive the requirements of the production of
documentary evidence and of the completion of the recommender’s
declaration.
Issue and extension 
of passports.
10. (1) Passports shall be issued or extended by the passport
officer. 
(2) Passports may be issued, extended or delivered to citizens
of Malta in a country outside Malta by diplomatic or consular
representatives of the Government of Malta in that country or, in a
country where there are no such representatives, by persons serving
in the diplomatic, consular or other foreign service of any country
which, by arrangement with the Government of Malta, has
undertaken to represent that government’s interest in that country
or by some other person, in every case authorised in that behalf by
the Minister and in accordance with directions, general or specific,
given to that effect by the Minister.
Production of 
passports on 
arriving or leaving 
Malta.
11. Every person entering or leaving Malta as a passenger shall
present his or her passport for registration at the Police office at the
Custom House, Lascaris Wharf, Valletta in the case of entry or
departure by sea, and at the Police office at the Malta International
Airport in the case of entry of departure by air, or in any other place
which the immigration officer may, in his discretion, approve.
Issue and 
amendment of 
forms.
12. (1) Copies of the forms referred to in these Regulations
shall be issued free of charge by the passport officer to persons
4 ġ S.L.61.02 PASSPORT
bona   fide  requiring the same.
(2) The passport officer may, from time to time, make such
amendments of and additions to the said forms as he shall consider
desirable or necessary.
Completion of 
application forms.
13. Applications required by these Regulations must be made
on the printed forms supplied by the passport officer for the
purpose, and must, before delivery to the passport officer, be
completed in every particular, and in accordance with every note,
mark or direction in any part thereof, or in any marginal note
appearing thereon.
