What Identità’s Long-Term Residence guidance says
Identità — the institution that administers Long-Term Residence status for third-country nationals, and the top authority in this guide’s source hierarchy for permit-related requirements — describes the integration-related documentation requirement in its own published guidance as:
“Completing Malta’s official ‘I Belong’ Integration Course (100 hours) and achieving a minimum score of 75% in the final exam”
The same guidance separately names a Maltese-language certificate (MQF Level 2) requiring a minimum mark of 65%, and states that the relevant documentation is required within twelve months of the application. This is a directly fetched, fully verified Identità source — the strongest authority this guide has for Long-Term Residence requirements specifically.
What the Human Rights Directorate’s Stage 2 description says
Separately, the Human Rights Directorate — the top authority in this guide’s source hierarchy for I Belong Programme structure specifically — describes Stage 2 (the course stage it explicitly links to Long-Term Residence eligibility) as consisting of two named courses:
- Maltese Language for Integration — MQF Level 2, 50 hours, minimum pass mark of 65%
- Cultural Orientation — MQF Level 2, 120 hours, requiring 80% attendance and a minimum mark of 75%
Added together, that is 170 hours across two courses, governed by two different pass-mark conditions — not the single 100-hour, single-75% figure Identità’s guidance describes.
The discrepancy, side by side
| What is described | Identità (Long-Term Residence guidance) | Human Rights Directorate (Stage 2 structure) |
|---|---|---|
| Total hours | 100 hours (single figure, one course) | 170 hours (50 + 120, across two courses) |
| Pass-mark condition(s) | Single figure: minimum 75% in the final exam | Two figures: 65% (Maltese course) and 80% attendance + 75% (Cultural Orientation course) |
| Course structure described | One Integration Course, plus a separately named Maltese-language certificate at 65% | Two named MQF Level 2 courses that together make up Stage 2 |
We want to be precise about what this table does and doesn’t show. It is possible that Identità’s “100 hours / 75%” wording is an imprecise summary of the same two-course Stage 2 structure — for example, if “100 hours” and “75%” are rounded, simplified, or drawn from an older version of the course structure. It is also possible the two descriptions refer to genuinely different things — one to the certificate document’s summary line, the other to the underlying course components. Neither official source states which is the case, so we are not inventing a reconciliation between them. This is marked internally as TODO: VERIFY AGAINST OFFICIAL SOURCE and will be corrected the moment either authority clarifies it — see the updates page for any changes.
What “one of the requirements” means in practice
It is worth being precise about scope here too: official wording describes Stage 2 completion as “one of the requirements for Long Term Residence Status for Third Country Nationals” — not the only one. Identità’s own Long-Term Residence guidance sets out further conditions, including requirements related to the length and continuity of residence in Malta, that operate independently of the integration-certificate requirement described here. This guide focuses on the integration-certificate piece because that is where the I Belong Programme connects to the wider application — for the full Long-Term Residence picture, the official guidance is the authoritative source.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the I Belong certificate guarantee Long-Term Residence status?
- No. Official wording describes it as "one of the requirements" — Identità's Long-Term Residence guidance sets out a fuller set of conditions (including residence-duration requirements) that sit alongside the integration-certificate requirement. The certificate is a documented part of the application, not a standalone guarantee of the outcome.
- What exactly does Identità say the certificate must show?
- Its Long-Term Residence guidance describes the requirement as "completing Malta's official 'I Belong' Integration Course (100 hours) and achieving a minimum score of 75% in the final exam," alongside a separate Maltese-language certificate (MQF Level 2) requiring a minimum mark of 65% — both said to be required within twelve months of the application. That is the verbatim figure we are comparing against the Stage 2 course structure below.
- So which figure is correct — 100 hours/75%, or 170 hours across two courses?
- We don't know, and we are not going to guess. Both figures come from official sources we treat as authoritative for their respective subject areas — Identità for Long-Term Residence requirements, and the Human Rights Directorate for I Belong Programme course structure — and neither explains how its figure relates to the other's. The honest answer is that this is an open question only the issuing authorities can resolve; we have marked it internally for re-verification and will update this page the moment either source clarifies it.
- What should I do if I'm relying on this certificate for a Long-Term Residence application?
- Don't rely on either figure alone. Confirm directly with Identità what your specific application needs to show, and confirm with the Human Rights Directorate what your completed (or in-progress) I Belong certificate actually documents — hours attended and marks achieved. Matching the two directly with the relevant authority is more reliable than assuming either published summary describes your situation precisely.
Official sources for this page
- Government of Malta — reforms.gov.mt (opens in a new tab)
Official Government of Malta service description of I Belong Programme Stage 2 (Integration Course): prerequisite, course structure, and Long-Term Residence connection.
Source last checked:
- Identità (opens in a new tab)
Official Identità guidance on Long-Term Residence eligibility for non-EU nationals, including the documentation requirements that name the I Belong Integration Certificate.
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Read the official guidance directly
Because this page documents an unresolved discrepancy between two official sources, reading both directly — rather than relying on any summary, including this one — is the most reliable way to understand how the requirement applies to your situation.