S.L. 217.15 Art. 3Applicability of these regulations. Cap. 420. S.L. 217.10 S.L. 460.17 S.L. 217.05. S.L. 452.82

(1) These regulations shall apply to third-country nationals who apply to be admitted to Malta for the purpose of highly qualified employment under the terms of these regulations.

(2) These regulations shall not apply to third-country nationals:

(a) who are authorized to reside in a Member State on the basis of temporary protection or have applied for authorization to reside on that basis and are awaiting a decision on their status;

(b) who are beneficiaries of international protection under Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third-country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted and the International Protection Act and subsidiary legislation made thereunder, or have applied for international protection under that Directive and whose application has not yet given rise to a final decision;

(c) who are beneficiaries of protection in accordance with national law or practice, or international obligations, or have applied for protection in accordance with national law or practice, or international obligations, and whose application has not given rise to a final decision; and

(d) who apply to reside in a Member State as researchers, within the meaning of Directive 2005/71/EC, in order to carry out a research project and who apply to reside in Malta as researchers, within the meaning of the Third-Country Nationals for Scientific Research Purposes (Specific Admittance Procedure) Regulations;

(e) who are family members of Union citizens who have exercised, or are exercising, their right to free movement within the Community in conformity with Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States or have exercised their right of free movement in Malta in accordance with the Free Movement of

European Union Nationals and their Family Members Order; HIGHLY QUALIFIED EMPLOYMENT

(f) who enjoy EC long-term resident status in a Member State in accordance with Directive 2003/109/EC and the provisions of the Status of Long-term Residents

(Third-Country Nationals) (Amendment) Regulations and exercise their right to reside in Malta in order to carry out an economic activity in an employed or self-employed capacity;

(g) who enter a Member State under commitments contained in an international agreement facilitating the entry and temporary stay of certain categories of trade and investment-related natural persons;

(h) who have been admitted to the territory of a Member State as seasonal workers;

(i) whose expulsion has been suspended for reasons of fact or law; and

(j) who are covered by the Posting of Workers in Malta

Regulations as long as they are posted in Malta.

(3) These regulations shall not apply to third-country nationals and their family members, whatever their nationality, who, under agreements between the Community and the Member States and those third countries, enjoy rights of free movement equivalent to those of Union citizens.

(4) These regulations shall be without prejudice to any agreement with one or more third countries that lists the professions which should not fall under these regulations in order to assure ethical recruitment, in sectors suffering from a lack of personnel, by protecting human resources in the developing countries which are signatories to these agreements.