How to apply for the I Belong 100-hour Cultural Orientation course

Before you apply: what you must already hold

The Directorate publishes two eligibility criteria. Applicants must be in possession of a “Valid Residence Permit/Asylum Seeker Document/CIO Document” — documents “must be issued by Maltese authorities” — and an “I Belong Stage 1 Cultural Orientation certificate or New Course on Maltese Language and Culture certificate”.

That second criterion is an either/or, and this matters if you were told otherwise before. Until 15 June 2026 the rule was narrower — only Stage 1 graduates could apply. Stage 1 Cultural Orientation has since been discontinued, and the Directorate now directs prospective participants to the New Course on Maltese Language and Culture (developed under the Malta Labour Migration Policy framework), which it says “remains a requirement for participation in I Belong Cultural Orientation at 100-hours course.” Holding that certificate is a route in its own right.

See the full eligibility breakdown and what replaced the old Stage 1 courses.

The published application channels

The Directorate’s I Belong page carries a direct registration link for the Stage 2 integration certificate. The servizz.gov service entry for the same programme lists two further channels — the Directorate’s office and the Servizz.gov hub network:

• Online. The registration form linked from the Human Rights Directorate’s I Belong Programme page.
• In person at the Directorate. servizz.gov publishes the address as “Human Rights Directorate, A3 Tower, Level 0, Triq L Arkata, Paola”.
• At a Servizz.gov hub. Listed as an accepted application route on the same service page.

Both pages were read directly on 2026-07-22. We link to the Directorate’s page rather than reproducing the registration link itself, so you always reach the form the Directorate is currently publishing.

How long it takes — and the caveat that comes with the only published figures

The servizz.gov service entry is the only official page we have found that publishes a processing timeline for this programme. Read on 2026-07-22, it breaks the service down as:

Treat these as indicative, not as a commitment. The page they come from has not been updated for the 15 June 2026 restructuring — it still describes the pre-restructuring two-course Stage 2 — so its timings describe how the service was administered under the old structure. They are also processing steps: approval of an application and the availability of an actual course place are different things, and the Directorate treats the second as conditional (see below).

What submitting the form does not get you

The Directorate publishes an unusually explicit caveat alongside the application link, and it is worth reading in full rather than in summary:

“Submission of this form does not guarantee eligibility, acceptance, enrolment, or access to any course, and does not create any entitlement to participate in the current I Belong programme. Eligibility, access, course delivery, and programme modalities and costs are subject to the applicable legislation, availability of course places, and programme arrangements in force at the time of course delivery. Any applicable participation conditions will be communicated prior to confirmation of enrolment.”

Three practical readings. One: a submitted application is a request. If you are working toward a Long-Term Residence deadline, do not build a plan that assumes a place. Two: the rules that apply are the ones in force when the course is actually delivered — not the ones described on any page, including this one. Three: note that costs appear in that list. No fee for the 100-hour Cultural Orientation course is published anywhere we have found, and this wording contemplates costs without naming any. That means the fee position is genuinely unpublished — it does not mean the course is free. Ask the programme before you budget.

See how the certificate feeds into a Long-Term Residence application, including the lead time that implies.

Where the two official pages disagree

If you research this yourself you will find both pages, and they do not say the same thing. We are not reconciling them — we are telling you which is current and why.

Which one to follow. On eligibility and course structure, follow the Human Rights Directorate. It is the unit that administers the programme, its page is dated to the 15 June 2026 restructuring, and servizz.gov still describes the structure that restructuring replaced. Use servizz.gov only for the mechanics it uniquely publishes — the office address, the hub channel, and the processing timeline — and treat those as dated too. If a Servizz.gov hub tells you something different from the Directorate about who can apply, the Directorate is the one to ask.