Why this page exists
The I Belong Programme was restructured as from 15 June 2026 to focus on the single I Belong 100-hour Cultural Orientation course, and official guidance can still change with little notice. Rather than silently editing pages, we record substantive content changes here, including status changes and newly discovered figure discrepancies, so returning readers can see what is new.
Change log
Date:
Corrected a claim on the Stage 2 page that had survived the 15 June 2026 restructuring: it still said that only Stage 1 graduates could apply. Re-read directly on 2026-07-22, the Human Rights Directorate publishes an either/or prerequisite — applicants must hold an "I Belong Stage 1 Cultural Orientation certificate or New Course on Maltese Language and Culture certificate", alongside a valid Residence Permit, Asylum Seeker Document or CIO Document issued by the Maltese authorities. Because Stage 1 Cultural Orientation is discontinued, the New Course on Maltese Language and Culture is the route open to new applicants, and the old wording wrongly implied they were shut out. The same page's University of Malta / MCAST delivery attribution is now dated to the pre-restructuring wording rather than presented as current, because the Directorate's page no longer names a delivering institution for the 100-hour course. Also added a new How to apply page covering the published application channels, the processing timeline published on the servizz.gov service entry (vetting 8 days, assessment 5, approval 5, delivery 5), and the Directorate's caveat that submitting the form "does not guarantee eligibility, acceptance, enrolment, or access to any course" — a caveat that now lists costs among the things subject to arrangements in force, while no fee for the course is published anywhere. The servizz.gov entry is newly catalogued as a source for application mechanics only: its eligibility and course-structure content is still pre-15-June and is contradicted by the Directorate.
Date:
Verified directly via the official Human Rights Directorate I Belong Programme page that the programme was restructured as from 15 June 2026 to focus only on the single I Belong 100-hour Cultural Orientation course (formerly Stage 2 Cultural Orientation). Several courses are discontinued as from that date: the Foundation Courses, the I Belong Stage 1 Cultural Orientation (replaced by the New Course on Maltese Language and Culture developed under the Malta Labour Migration Policy framework, which is now the prerequisite for the 100-hour Cultural Orientation course), the I Belong Maltese Language and English Language courses at MQF Level 1, and the I Belong Maltese Language at MQF Level 2. The MQF Level 2 Maltese Language course is now offered only to applicants who applied before 15 June 2026. The earlier "Stage 1 applications paused for restructuring" status is now superseded by this concrete restructuring, so the guide reframes the applications-paused, eligibility, homepage, and Stage pages accordingly. The previously documented 100-vs-170-hour Stage 2/Long-Term Residence figure discrepancy is now largely resolved, because the Directorate's page itself now describes a 100-hour Cultural Orientation course; the guide continues to note that the Directorate no longer publishes a numeric pass mark and that the 75% figure comes only from Identità's LTR guidance.
Date:
Re-checked the Human Rights Directorate I Belong Programme overview, the Human Rights Directorate contact page, and Identità's Long-Term Residence FAQ directly. The I Belong Stage 2 vs Long-Term Residence figure discrepancy remains: the Directorate still describes two Stage 2 courses totalling 170 hours, while Identità still describes the Long-Term Residence certificate requirement as a 100-hour I Belong Integration Course with a 75% final exam score. The earlier HRD contact-page access caveat has been removed because the page is now directly verified. The reforms.gov.mt Stage 1 and Stage 2 pages still return only a page title and site shell in automated fetches, so their content remains due for direct re-check when readable.
Date:
Initial publication of the I Belong Malta Guide: homepage with a prominent current-status box on the Stage 1 application pause, trust pages, and dedicated guides covering Stage 1, Stage 2, the applications-paused status, eligibility, the courses across both stages, the Long-Term Residence connection (including a newly identified figure discrepancy between Identità's "100 hours / 75%" certificate summary and the Human Rights Directorate's two-course Stage 2 breakdown), and official contacts. All sources checked and dated as of this entry; every discrepancy and access-method caveat from the initial publication is documented in full in docs/OFFICIAL_SOURCES.md.