Malta visa guideThe Malta tourist visa is a Schengen short-stay visa (type C). It lets an Indian passport holder holiday in Malta, and travel on to the other Schengen countries, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. You hand in the file in person at a VFS Global centre, including Chandigarh and New Delhi, and the High Commission of Malta in New Delhi decides.
The standard decision time is 15 calendar days from the day the High Commission receives your file, and it can run to 45 days. Malta's checklist has rules of its own: travel insurance only from the insurers it recognises in India, an Aadhaar card, your old passports, and nothing printed back-to-back.
Do Indians need a visa for Malta, and which one?
Yes. Malta is in the Schengen area, so an Indian passport holder needs a Schengen short-stay visa, type C, for a holiday there. It is not an e-visa. You fill in the application form, hand the file in person at a VFS Global centre, and give your fingerprints and a live photo there.
The visa allows up to 90 days in any 180-day period. That allowance is shared across all 29 Schengen states, not counted country by country. The High Commission of Malta in New Delhi decides every application from India. It also decides whether you get a single-entry or a multiple-entry visa, and for how long.
Do not expect a long multiple-entry visa on a first application. Malta's own visa FAQ says multiple-entry visas are generally granted to people who have held and used Schengen visas successfully on several occasions. Indians also have an EU rule of their own since April 2024: after two Schengen visas obtained and lawfully used within the previous three years, you can be issued a two-year multiple-entry visa, normally followed by a five-year one if your passport has enough validity left.
Malta tourist visa at a glance
- VisaNot an e-visa: paper file and biometrics in person
- Schengen short-stay visa, type C
- Longest stayCounted across every Schengen state together
- 90 days in any 180-day period
- Who decides
- High Commission of Malta, New Delhi
- Where you apply11 centres, including Chandigarh and New Delhi
- VFS Global
- Visa feeFree under 6
- €90 adult, €45 child aged 6 to 11
- Standard decision timeCan be extended to 45 days
- 15 calendar days
High Commission of Malta visa FAQ and VFS Global Malta India, checked 14 Oct 2026
A tourist visa cannot be stretched into something else. A stay of more than 90 days needs a national (type D) visa, which Identità handles under different rules, and no Schengen visa gives you the right to work.
Where do applicants from Punjab apply?
At VFS Global, the High Commission's official partner in India. Malta has 11 VFS centres: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and New Delhi. For most of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh the nearest is the Chandigarh centre. Delhi residents use New Delhi. All of them work Monday to Friday.
Every Malta application from India, from every centre, is decided by the one High Commission in New Delhi, so there is no state-wise jurisdiction to work out. What differs is transit. VFS says processing can take up to three weeks for applications lodged in Indian states outside Delhi, because the file has to reach New Delhi first. If your dates are close and Delhi is within reach, lodging at the New Delhi centre avoids that leg.
What to expect at the centre:
- You must go yourself. VFS does not accept a representative or travel agent in your place.
- Fingerprints are taken unless you gave them for a Schengen visa in the last 59 months. A live photo is taken every time.
- Children under 12 give no fingerprints. A child under 18 must be accompanied by an adult, and both parents sign the child's application form.
- Arrive 15 minutes early. If you miss the appointment, you can only book a fresh one after 24 hours.
- Clean fingertips. Mehndi, cuts or other marks on the fingertips can stop the scanner reading your prints.
You fill in the form, then book on the VFS Malta site. VFS sells optional extras such as courier return of the passport and "Visa at your doorstep", which lets you submit from a place of your choice. They cost extra and, as VFS itself states, have no effect on the decision. To see how dates are opening up, check our Malta appointment availability page.
Questions go to VFS, not the High Commission. VFS says queries sent to the High Commission will not be answered, and that it forwards to the mission whatever it cannot answer itself. Malta's mission in India also states that communication with its visa section is strictly in writing.
Which documents depend on your situation?
The common checklist is printed further down this page. What changes from person to person is the proof of money and of ties to India. Malta's tourism checklist sets it out like this:
Salaried
- What Malta's checklist asks you to add
- Original bank statement for the last 3 months, stamped and signed by the bank; last 3 payslips; employment contract; your employer's letter approving the leave; ITR acknowledgements for the last two assessment years
Business owner or self-employed
- What Malta's checklist asks you to add
- Original personal bank statement for 3 months, stamped and signed; company registration certificate showing its GST number; business bank account statement; ITRs for two years
Sponsored by family
- What Malta's checklist asks you to add
- Original bank statement for 3 months; proof of sponsorship; your own ITR acknowledgements for two years
Retired
- What Malta's checklist asks you to add
- Pension statements for the last 3 months, or proof of regular income from property or a business
Minor travelling with one parent
- What Malta's checklist asks you to add
- Notarised consent of the other parent with a copy of their passport, or a court order showing sole custody
Minor travelling alone
- What Malta's checklist asks you to add
- Notarised consent of both parents with copies of their passports, plus ID of the parents
A student going on holiday on a parent's money applies under the sponsored route. Malta's family-visit and business checklists ask for the bank statements of both the sponsor and the applicant, so put both in a sponsored tourist file too.
A few Malta items catch Indian applicants out:
- Old passports. VFS lists the old passport as mandatory and asks for a photocopy of every page of your passports. If an old passport was lost and the new one does not record the loss, bring the police report (FIR).
- Aadhaar card, original with a photocopy.
- No handwritten changes. A passport with a handwritten alteration on the bio page or to its validity is not accepted.
- Package tours. If you booked an organised trip, add the travel agency's certificate confirming the booking.
- Staying with a friend or relative. A line in an invitation is not proof of accommodation. Your host completes Malta's Declaration of Proof before a Maltese notary. The Malta family visit visa guide covers that route.
How much is the Malta visa fee for Indians?
The visa fee is €90 for adults and €45 for children aged 6 to 11; children under 6 pay nothing. You pay it in rupees at the VFS centre at the exchange rate VFS applies, and VFS adds its own service charge per applicant (GST included), so check both figures on the VFS Malta fee tab on the day you pay. The visa fee is not refunded if the visa is refused unless the application was inadmissible, and VFS charges are non-refundable. Our filing fee is shown at the top of this page.
How long does it take, and when should you apply?
Plan for 15 calendar days, counted from the day the High Commission receives your file, not the day you visit VFS. Malta's visa FAQ says this can be extended to 45 calendar days when more documents or a closer look are needed. Add 3 to 6 days for the file to travel between VFS and the High Commission and back.
Two things stretch this right now. VFS says processing can take up to three weeks for applications from states outside Delhi. And on 10 August 2026 VFS posted a notice, on the High Commission's instructions, that processing may take longer than the usual time because of unforeseen circumstances at the High Commission. The notice was still on the VFS Malta site when we checked on 14 October 2026.
When to apply:
- Latest: 15 calendar days before you travel. Later than that needs the High Commission's agreement for a genuinely urgent case.
- Earliest: EU law and Malta's FAQ allow up to 6 months ahead. The VFS Malta India page, however, asks for applications between 15 days and 3 months before departure and says to write to the High Commission for exceptions. Plan around the 3-month window.
- Sensible: the High Commission strongly recommends applying at least 4 weeks before departure, and says it is seeing a big rise in applications.
Do not pay for tickets first. VFS advises applicants not to confirm travel arrangements until they have the visa. Indian holidays cost days too: VFS has announced the Malta centre will be closed on 20 October 2026 for Dussehra.
Why do Malta visas get refused for Indian applicants?
Malta uses the EU's standard refusal form, which ticks numbered reasons. These are the ones that sink holiday files, and how a file avoids each.
The trip does not hang together (reasons 2 and 10)
The purpose and conditions of the stay were not justified, or the information given was not reliable. This is what happens when the form, cover letter, bookings and leave letter tell different stories. Make every date match, book every night, and say in the cover letter what you will do in Malta and where you will sleep.
Money that does not explain itself (reason 3)
The officer could not see enough means for the stay and the return. A large balance with no history is weak; a deposit made days before filing is worse. Show three months of ordinary movement, salary or business income coming in, and two years of ITRs. Explain any big credit with a document.
Doubts that you will come back (reason 13)
The officer was not convinced you will leave before the visa ends. Answer this with your life in India: the employer's leave letter, the GST registration and business statements, a pension, property, family who stay behind. A short trip with clear return bookings reads better than an open-ended one.
Insurance Malta does not accept (reason 16)
Malta accepts travel medical insurance only from the insurers it recognises in India, 16 companies on the checklist. The policy must cover €30,000 in every Schengen state and state its validity, including the arrival and departure days. A policy from anyone else, or one that ends a day early, fails this test.
Gaps left to fix later
Malta's checklist gives a 5-day limit for sending missing documents through VFS and warns that failure to comply may lead to outright refusal. Build the complete file before your appointment, not after.
The full list of refusal reasons, and what each one means, is on our Schengen refusal reasons page.
Tips for a stronger file
- Bank statements. Originals, stamped and signed by the bank, covering three months. Highlight salary credits. If a big amount came in recently, attach the reason: a sale deed, an FD maturity slip, a bonus letter.
- Cover letter. Malta's checklist says what it must contain: the purpose of travel, how long you will stay, the names of anyone travelling with you, and your transport and accommodation details. Add a day-by-day plan and sign it.
- One set of dates. The form, cover letter, flights, hotels, insurance and leave letter should all show the same arrival and departure dates.
- Itinerary across countries. If you will also visit other Schengen states, VFS asks for the transfers and accommodation in each to be listed and highlighted in the itinerary.
- Flights and hotels. The checklist asks for a flight reservation for a return or round trip, not a paid ticket. Hotels must be confirmed for every night.
- Insurance. Buy from an insurer on Malta's approved list, and ask the insurer to confirm that before you pay. More on cover rules in our Schengen travel insurance explainer.
- Paper rules. Nothing printed back-to-back. Add A4 photocopies of any originals you want returned. Do not staple the photograph to the form. Have the applicant countersign any correction on the form.
- Blank pages. VFS's page asks for two; the High Commission's checklist asks for three. Carry three.
- Speed. If VFS asks for something after you apply, the clock is five days.
Can I visit other Schengen countries on a Malta visa?
Yes. A type C visa issued by Malta is valid for the whole Schengen area unless the sticker says otherwise, and the 90 days are shared across all of it. What matters is where you apply. Under the Visa Code, the right state is your main destination, judged by the number of days or the purpose of the stay. If the nights are split equally, it is the state where you first enter.
So a week in Malta with two nights in Rome belongs with Malta. Ten days in Italy with a Malta add-on does not. If you lodge with Malta when another state is responsible, the Visa Code tells the consulate to hand the file back, refund the visa fee and tell you which consulate to use. You lose the weeks, not the visa fee, but VFS charges are not refunded.
Two more points for Indian travellers:
- Not every EU country is covered. Cyprus is not yet a full Schengen member, and Ireland keeps its own visa rules, so a Malta visa does not get you into either.
- Digital border records. Malta is one of the countries using the EU's Entry/Exit System, which registers non-EU travellers' entries and exits electronically, with fingerprints and a face image, and is replacing passport stamps.
Can you appeal a Malta visa refusal?
Yes, within 15 days of being notified of the refusal. Malta's Central Visa Unit says appeals go to the Immigration Appeals Board in Valletta, with a fee of €120 per application. You can lodge it online, in person or through a representative, and you must attach a copy of the refusal letter and any documents you want considered. The refusal letter itself tells you the procedure, and Malta's missions ask applicants to follow it.
Appeal or reapply? If the refusal was about a missing document, a fresh application with the complete file is usually simpler. If the officer did not believe documents you had already given, an appeal argues that point directly. Either way, the 15 days run fast, so check the date on the letter with our refusal deadline tool. For the bigger picture on Malta, start at the Malta country page.
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
- Malta High Commission in India: Services
- Visa Appeals Procedure, Identità Central Visa Unit
- Schengen Visa, 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
- VFS Global Malta India: home and notices
- What is the EES?, Travel to Europe
