My head is in New York and Silicon Valley, but our feet are in Malta. Malta is our home. Why move to Malta? Here's some of the appeal of lovely Malta...
Ranked the best weather in the world, out of 191 countries, by International Living Magazine. The average annual temperature of the sea is 20c, the hottest in Europe. And there's more sunshine hours than Mallorca, Spain. (2,961 in Malta vs Mallorca's 2,763). In fact, Malta comes in at about the same level of sunshine hours as Honolulu (3,042)
One of the safest countries in the world with 40% the murder rate of the USA, 10% of the rape rate, and a lower rate of aggravated assault than Japan. Reputation really matters here. It's a small island, people talk. There's 1.2 million visitors to Malta a year and I'd guess that much of the crime is committed by non-locals. Safety is super important to us. We have two l'il girls.
Ranked 3rd top for Quality Of Life, by International Living Magazine.
#5 on the World Health Organization ranking of medical systems out of 190 countries. UK is #18 and USA #37!
Very attractive taxation. As an ordinary resident, capital that we bring into the country is not taxed.
No annual property taxes. We pay 5% taxes, plus 1% notary fees when buying property, and we're done. We're buying two apartments next month. One for home (at Fort Cambridge), one for our office and sea toys (at Qui Si Sana Seafront).
Super internet infrastructure, thanks to all the iGaming companies here. 3G wireless throughout, and 100mb fiber optic.
Other interesting stats. 90% of the 414,000 people living in Malta speak Maltese. 6% speak English. In actual fact, most people also speak English. Swedish is fast becoming the most popular language next to English, and Italian as the Swedish population booms here. Maltese sounds like a mishmash of Arabic and Italian. Actually, its ~75% from a Sicilian dialect of Italian, the rest is of Arabic descent.
The ordinary residency program suited us best. There's minimal paperwork. We just declared ourselves to the local tax authorities.
