Child Birth and Adoption Bonus

Overview

A Child Birth and Adoption Bonus introduced as from the 1^st January 2020, is awarded to the mother of a newborn child or the adoptive parent of a newborn child, where the mother / adoptive parent is either Maltese, from a European Union Country or married / cohabitating with a Maltese / European National. However, since this Bonus payment is per Child, whenever there are multiple births or multiple adoptions, this payment shall be eligible per Child.

What you’ll get

Upon registration of the child’s birth with Malta’s Public Registry, the payment process of the Child Birth and Adoption bonus is automatically initiated by the Department of Social Security or upon submission of the Children’s Allowance application.

A once-only payment of five-hundred euro (€500) is paid to the mother of a newborn child or adoptive parent. Should the mother give birth for a second new child or more in the family, or adopt a second child or more, a once-only payment of one-thousand euro (€1000) is paid for each child.

Please click here for a Schedule of Benefits Payment dates.

Eligibility

General eligibility criteria:

• The mother of the newborn child or adoptive parent is Maltese or from a European Union country, in which both instances is a Maltese resident for at least ten (10) consecutive years.
• A Maltese couple of whom one of them has been living in Malta for at least ten (10) consecutive years.
• The mother of the newborn child or adoptive parent is from a European Union country or any other nationality (including third country national/s), who does not have residency in Malta for 10 consecutive years but is married or cohabitating with a Maltese or an EU National and who has been a resident in Malta for ten (10) years back-dated since the birth of the newborn.
• The mother of the newborn child or adoptive parent is from a European Union country or any other nationality (including third country national/s) and is married to a Maltese national who does not have ten (10) consecutive residency himself in Malta, but the mother has lived in Malta for over ten (10) consecutive years.
• The mother of the newborn child or adoptive parent from a third country national/s may only qualify if married or cohabitating with a Maltese national or a national from a European Union country who has been living in Malta for at least ten (10) consecutive years. If not, then the mother must be a maltese resident for at least ten (10) consecutive years herself.
• The adoptive parent adopts the child, who has been registered with the Public Registry of Malta and conforms to the eligibility criteria listed above will be entitled to the Child Adoption Bonus, whereas the biological mother may be entitled to the Child Birth Bonus if she would be paid for Children’s Allowance.
• Ensure that your banking details held by the Department of Social Security are updated to receive payments by direct deposit in a bank. The IBAN number should be a local savings or current account, but not a loan account. The indicated account must be in the name of the beneficiary only. Banking details may be updated on mySocialSecurity

The European Union also includes the European Economic Area (EEA) which includes Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, together with Switzerland.

For the time being, the United Kingdom is still considered as a European Country. The European Social Charter is not being considered.

Documentation Required

General documentation:

• Date of cohabitation / Marriage / Civil Union (if applicable) when submitting the Children’s Allowance application.
• Proof of ‘Date of Arrival in Malta’ (if applicable) when submitting the Children’s Allowance application. This may include copies of Boarding Passes and/or Passports.

How to apply

Upon registration of the birth or adoption of the child with Malta’s Public Registry, the process for the payment of the Child Birth and Adoption Bonus is automatically initiated by the Department of Social Security in line with the eligibility criteria.

Nevertheless, there may be instances when an application cannot be automatically processed upon registration of minor with the Public Registry when:

• The parents do not have the same address.
• A parent is single, in which case the care and custody documents must be submitted with the application.
• The child was not born in Malta.
• Foreign parents.

Thus, if the Children’s Allowance payment and the Child Birth and Adoption Bonus are not received within four (4) months from date of birth, one must submit an application within six (6) months from date of birth or adoption of minor as stipulated by the Social Security Act (Cap. 318.).