S.L. 217.15 Art. 2Definitions. Cap. 217. S.L. 217.06 Cap. 452. S.L. 451.03

For the purpose of these regulations:

"Act" means the Immigration Act; "Board" means the Immigration Appeals Board constituted by article 25A of the Act; "Director" means the Director for Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs; "employment licence" means the licence referred to in article 11(3) of the Act; "EU Blue Card" means the authorisation bearing the term ‘EU Blue Card’ as the type of permit which shall be issued in the uniform format as laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1030/ 2002, entitling its holder to reside and work in the territory of Malta under the terms of these regulations;

*These regulations have been repealed by Legal Notice 303 of 2023. HIGHLY QUALIFIED EMPLOYMENT

"family members" means third-country nationals as defined in regulation 4(1) of the Family Reunification Regulations;

"first Member State" means the Member State which first grants a third-country national an ‘EU Blue Card’ other than Malta:

Provided that, for the purposes of regulation 17, from the second time that an EU Blue Card holder and, where applicable, his family members, makes use of the possibility to move to another Member State under the terms of Part V, ‘first Member State’ shall be understood as the Member State from where the person concerned moves; "gross annual salary" means the average annual gross salary published by the National Statistics Office in the Labour Force Survey; "higher education qualification" means any diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications issued by a competent authority attesting the successful completion of a post-secondary higher education programme, namely a set of courses provided by an educational establishment recognised by the Malta Qualifications Recognition Information Centre, any other centre which is a member of the ENIC/NARIC networks and as listed by the ENIC/NARIC networks, as a higher education institution by the State in which it is situated:

Provided that for the purposes of these regulations, a higher education qualification shall be taken into account, on condition that the studies needed to acquire it lasted at least three years; "higher professional qualifications" means qualifications attested by evidence of higher education qualifications or, by way of derogation, when provided for by national law, attested by at least ten years of professional experience of a level comparable to higher education qualifications to be recognised by the relevant national competent authority as mentioned in the Schedule, and which is relevant in the profession or sector specified in the work contract or binding job offer; "highly qualified employment" means the employment of a person who:

(a) is protected as an employee under the Employment and

Industrial Relations Act, irrespective of the legal relationship, for the purpose of exercising genuine and effective work for, or under the direction of, someone else;

(b) is paid; and

(c) has the required adequate and specific competence, as proven by higher professional qualifications;

"ISCO" means International Standard Classification of Occupations;

"professional experience" means the actual and lawful pursuit of the profession concerned, HIGHLY QUALIFIED EMPLOYMENT [

"regulated profession" means a regulated profession as defined in regulation 3(1)( ) of the Recognition of Professional a Qualifications Regulations; "third-country national" means any person who is not a citizen of the European Union within the meaning of article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.