Malta visa guideA Malta business visa is a Schengen short-stay visa (type C) for meetings, conferences, training or business-related events in Malta, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. You apply in person at a VFS Global centre, including Chandigarh and New Delhi, and the High Commission of Malta in New Delhi decides, usually within 15 calendar days of receiving the file.
The file turns on two letters that must match: an invitation from the Maltese company and a covering letter from the company sending you. Paid work is not allowed on this visa, and a business stay of more than 90 consecutive days is a separate national application to Identità.
Do Indians need a visa for a Malta business trip, and which one?
Yes. An Indian passport holder going to Malta for meetings, a conference, training or another business event needs a Schengen short-stay visa, type C, applied for under the business category. It is not an e-visa. You hand in a paper file at a VFS Global centre, give your fingerprints and a live photo there, and the High Commission of Malta in New Delhi decides.
The visa allows up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and that allowance is shared across all 29 Schengen states. Once issued, a Schengen visa is not tied to its purpose, so a free afternoon in Valletta is fine. What it never gives you is the right to work.
Malta business visa at a glance
- VisaNot an e-visa: paper file and biometrics in person
- Schengen short-stay visa, type C, business category
- Purposes Malta names
- Meetings, conferences, training or business-related events
- Time allowedShared by all Schengen states
- Up to 90 days in any 180 days
- Decided by
- Malta's High Commission in New Delhi
- Lodged atNearest for Punjab: Chandigarh or New Delhi
- VFS Global, in person
- Visa fee
- €90 per adult
- Usual decisionUp to 45 days in some cases
- 15 calendar days after New Delhi receives the file
VFS Global Malta India, Malta business checklist and High Commission of Malta visa FAQ, checked 14 Oct 2026
Two cases fall outside this visa. Paid work for a Maltese company needs a work visa, not a business visa. And if the business genuinely needs you in Malta for more than 90 consecutive days, that is a national (type D) application to Identità's Central Visa Unit, explained further down.
Regular visitors can ask for more than one trip's worth. The Visa Code allows a multiple-entry visa valid for up to five years for applicants who prove the need to travel frequently or regularly and show they have used earlier visas lawfully. For Indians there is also an EU rule from April 2024: after two Schengen visas obtained and lawfully used within the previous three years, a two-year multiple-entry visa can be issued, normally followed by a five-year one if the passport allows.
Where do applicants from Punjab apply?
Business applicants use the same VFS Global network as tourists. VFS is the High Commission's official partner in India and runs Malta centres in 11 cities, Chandigarh and New Delhi among them; the others are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai. From Ludhiana, Mohali or Amritsar, Chandigarh is the nearest. The centres open Monday to Friday.
Whichever centre you choose, the decision is made by the High Commission in New Delhi; India has no state-wise split for Malta. The centre does change the clock. VFS warns that files lodged in states outside Delhi can take up to three weeks, since they travel to New Delhi first. If a meeting date is tight and you can get to Delhi, lodging there saves the transit.
- You go in person. VFS does not accept a representative or travel agent in your place, so a company travel desk cannot lodge the file for you.
- Fingerprints and photo. If your fingerprints went into a Schengen application within the last 59 months, they are reused; a live photo is still taken at every visit.
- Ask VFS, not the mission. Queries sent to the High Commission go unanswered, according to VFS, which passes on anything it cannot handle.
Booking is online on the VFS Malta site once the form is filled in. Our Malta appointment availability page shows how dates are opening up.
Which documents depend on your situation?
The common checklist is printed further down this page. A business file adds two letters, and Malta's checklist asks each of them for the same three facts:
Invitation
- Who signs it
- The company or organisation in Malta you will visit
- What it must state
- Your identity; the purpose (meetings, conferences, training or business-related events); the period and place of your stay
Covering letter
- Who signs it
- Your employer, or your own company, in India
- What it must state
- Your identity; the purpose of the trip; the period and place of your stay
Cover letter
- Who signs it
- You
- What it must state
- Purpose, length of stay, anyone travelling with you, transport and accommodation
The letters are read side by side, so they must describe one trip. The proof of money and of your position in India then depends on who you are:
Employee sent by an Indian company
- Money and position papers on Malta's checklist
- Original personal bank statement for 3 months, stamped and signed by the bank; last 3 payslips; employment contract; the employer's statement approving your time away; ITR acknowledgements for the last two assessment years
Owner, partner or self-employed
- Money and position papers on Malta's checklist
- Original personal bank statement for 3 months, stamped and signed; certificate of registration of the company showing its GST number; business bank account statement; ITRs for two years
Maltese host paying the costs
- Money and position papers on Malta's checklist
- Bank statements of both the sponsor and the applicant for 3 months, stamped and signed; proof of sponsorship; your own ITRs for two years
Retired director or consultant
- Money and position papers on Malta's checklist
- Three months of pension statements and/or proof of steady income from property or a business
If the Maltese company is putting you up in a flat or house rather than a hotel, a sentence in the invitation is not enough. Malta asks for its Declaration of Proof, completed and signed, in original and witnessed by a Maltese public notary, with a copy of the host's ID card, proof of the residence and proof of income attached.
A conference or trade fair counts as a business event. The invitation then comes from the organiser in Malta, and your own company's covering letter explains why you are attending.
Two Malta extras apply to every business file: your old passports (with a photocopy of every page of your passports), and your Aadhaar card with a photocopy, which the business checklist lists for Indian nationals living in India.
How much is the Malta business visa fee for Indians?
A business visa costs the same €90 per adult as a tourist visa. VFS collects it in rupees at its own exchange rate, together with a separate service charge per applicant that includes GST, and both rupee figures move, so read them on the VFS Malta fee tab on the day you pay. A refusal does not bring the visa fee back unless the file was inadmissible, and VFS keeps its charges either way. Our filing fee is shown at the top of this page.
How long does a Malta business visa take, and when should you apply?
The standard is 15 calendar days, and the count starts when your file reaches the High Commission, not when you hand it in at VFS. Malta's FAQ allows an extension to 45 calendar days when the officer needs more documents or more time. VFS asks applicants to allow another 3 to 6 days for the file's trips between the centre and New Delhi, and says files from states outside Delhi can take up to three weeks.
Build in a margin for a current delay as well. VFS published a notice on 10 August 2026, at the High Commission's request, saying unforeseen circumstances at the mission may push processing past the usual time, and the notice was still up on 14 October 2026.
The application window for a business trip:
- No later than 15 calendar days before you fly. Shorter notice needs the High Commission to accept the case as urgent.
- No earlier than 3 months through VFS India, even though EU law and Malta's FAQ allow 6 months. VFS tells applicants to write to the High Commission for exceptions.
- Ideally 4 weeks or more before departure, which is what the High Commission strongly recommends.
For a conference with fixed dates, the slowest document is usually the one from Malta. Ask for the invitation as soon as the trip is agreed, and do not pay for tickets before the visa: VFS advises applicants not to confirm travel arrangements until they have it.
Why do Malta business visas get refused for Indian applicants?
A refusal arrives on the EU's standard form, with numbered boxes ticked. On business files these are the boxes that come up, and the fix for each.
Two letters that tell different stories (reasons 2 and 10)
The purpose and conditions of the stay were not justified, or the information was not reliable. A conference in one letter and client meetings in the other, or dates three days apart, is enough to raise the doubt. Draft the Indian letter from the Maltese invitation, not on its own.
A business visa that is really a job
Schengen visas do not give the right to work, and Malta's Central Visa Unit puts it in writing on its checklist for longer business stays: business applications that are in fact related to employment will be refused. Words like deployment, project execution or on-site support describe work. Describe what you will actually do: meet, negotiate, train, attend.
Finances that do not support the trip (reason 3)
The officer could not see enough means for the stay and the return. A business file needs both sides: the company's registration with its GST number and business account statement, and your own statement and two years of ITRs. If the Maltese side pays, add its proof of sponsorship.
No clear reason to return to India (reason 13)
The officer was not convinced you will leave before the visa ends. Show the role that brings you home: your position and salary, your shareholding, the GST returns of a running business. Tie the return flight to the last day of the agenda.
The wrong insurer, or a gap in the file (reason 16)
Malta takes travel insurance only from the 16 insurers it recognises in India, covering €30,000 in every Schengen state for the whole trip. Its checklist also gives a 5-day limit for sending missing documents through VFS, and warns that failure to comply may lead to outright refusal.
Our Schengen refusal reasons page explains every box on the form.
Tips for a stronger file
- Use Malta's words. The checklist names meetings, conferences, training and business-related events. Put the same words in both letters and in your cover letter.
- Add an agenda. Dates, places and the people you will meet. The short-stay checklist does not demand it, but it is the quickest way to show the trip is real, and Malta's long-stay business checklist does demand one.
- Show the relationship. Purchase orders, a contract, a distributor agreement or the email chain that led to the visit tell the officer why this company is inviting you.
- Say who pays. Both letters should state who covers travel, stay and insurance. If the Maltese company pays, include its proof of sponsorship and the bank statements Malta asks for.
- Letterheads and signatures. Each letter on the company's letterhead, signed, with a name and designation the officer can check.
- Main destination by purpose. Under the Visa Code the right state is decided by the length of stay or the purpose of the stay, so a Malta conference with a few nights elsewhere still belongs with Malta.
- Presentation. Single-sided printing throughout, an A4 copy next to every original you want back, an unstapled photo, and a passport with three blank pages.
What if the work in Malta will take more than 90 days?
Then this visa is the wrong one. A business stay that is genuinely needed for more than 90 consecutive days is a national (type D) visa from Identità's Central Visa Unit, with its own checklist. It asks for:
An invitation on the Maltese company's letterhead
Signed by the company that is inviting you.
Proof of the business relationship
Proof of business relations between you and the inviting company, including an agenda and documents that justify why the activity must run beyond 90 days.
The host company's papers
The Memorandum and Articles of Association of the host company, plus proof of business actually being carried on by you.
Your own position
A passport with at least 8 months' validity, bank statements for the past three months showing enough money for the stay, accommodation and medical insurance.
The same checklist warns that applications under the business category that are in fact related to employment, or that are really short stays, will be refused. Pick the route that matches what you will actually do. If the trip is really to see relatives, use the Malta family visit visa guide; for a holiday, the Malta tourist visa guide.
Official sources
- Visa Code, consolidated text (EUR-Lex)
- Applying for a Schengen visa, European Commission
- European Union adopts more favourable Schengen visa rules for Indians, EU Delegation to India
- General Visa Questions, Malta missions
- Visa Appeals Procedure, Identità Central Visa Unit
- VFS Global Malta India: visa types
- VFS Global Malta India: visa application centres
- VFS Global Malta India: what happens at the centre
- VFS Global Malta India: delay in visa application processing
