Expats Serminar in Malta: networking event, 26 September,2013, InterContinental Hotel, St Julian’s
Calling all new arrivals to Malta…
Malta has seen a great number of expat services spring up in recent years as the number of incoming foreign residents has grown. The islands have around 20,000 expat residents whose numbers swell by around 3,000 a year. At Malta Inside Out, eight of our top hit topics relate in some shape or format to expat affairs, and we get a lot of personal enquiries each week from the newly-arrived or those thinking of moving here. Malta featured only recently on Islands.com at number three slot in an article entitled ‘5 Best Islands for Retiring Early‘. Malta’s ability to have weathered economic crises and its lifestyle and healthcare are key reasons for luring expats. Taxation, cost of living and the islands’ English-speaking credentials all tip the balance too.
Online fora aside, expats are also keen to meet up in the flesh to network. And a useful expat event is coming up soon…
Buoyed by the expat surge, local events’ company LEAD is organising for the second year running a seminar and networking event – Expats in Malta – to assist on a raft of issues from job hunting to financial management, setting up a business, property buying, retiring to Malta and aspects of integrating in the local culture and society.
Taking place on Thursday, 26 September from 17.30 at the Intercontinental Hotel, St Julian’s (details below), it’s both an info-gleaning and networking evening giving expats the chance to gain some sound advice from guest speakers – professionals drawn from locals (long-time expats and Maltese) ‘in the know – as well as mingle with and sound out experiences from fellow expats.
Although Malta has a long history of welcoming expats, there are still many issues which new arrivals need assistance on despite the advantages of Malta being English speaking and a seemingly easy-to-move to destination. “Malta is a wonderful place to live but the main challenge for expats remains that of getting outside the expat community and making friends with local people. Malta can be very welcoming, but it does take a special effort for expats to move outside their comfort zone to meet the right local people to do business with. That’s where events like this come in handy.” says James Grech, LEAD’s managing director. “Expats also mentioned that they don’t know who they can go to in confidence to get services at local rates, rather than the special international rates that are sometimes charged.”
With so much advice online these days is still a need to press the flesh at events like LEAD’s? “Moving to a new country is both an art and a science. We wish to give participants a unique insight through the points raised by our high-calibre speakers and the networking session that follows,” James Grech adds. “This is a golden opportunity for expats to make valuable new connections to widen further their local network, as well as to give them a flavour of local life.”
What expat groups does LEAD think will benefit most from the event – expats going it alone or those on corporate moves? “In terms of the information provided, it is probably the lone expats who will benefit more. However, as one of our speakers is going to point out, even those on corporate moves whose employers provide information packs still find there’s a lot to get to grips with when settling here. We feel the networking session will prove beneficial to all types of expat.”
Further Details
LEAD has kindly offered 4 COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS to the seminar for Malta Inside Out site users (tickets are worth Euro 40 incl. VAT). We’ll allocate these on a first-come-first-served basis and also one per applicant so we share the tickets around a bit. Just leave a message on our Facebook page for a chance to grab one.
Speaker line-up and footage of last year’s event here
Register for the event here.
Cost: €40 – includes free underground parking, coffee break and networking dinks and eats.
Photo: Mario Sainz Martínez
Thank you very much for telling us about your newspaper venture which we can see has very worthy aims. If you’d like to talk to us more about it, perhaps regarding a short article, then do contact us. Thanks.
Dear all, we are publishing a new newspaper called Side by Side aimed at helping expats to integrate into the Maltese society and promoting acceptance and tolerance. If you would like to contribute to our newspaper – share your experiences, give your comments – please contact us on sidebyside@sosmalta.org or bartek.romanczuk@sosmalta.org. For more details go on http://www.sosmalta.org/sidebyside and click like on facebook.com/sidebysidemalta.
Thanks and good luck for the seminar!
The ‘e-Residence Card / New identity card shambles features prominently among the hundreds of ‘Reasons for signing’ which are appended to this online petition – “EU Commission: Stop the discrimination of EU Nationals in Malta”:
https://www.change.org/petitions/eu-commission-stop-the-discrimination-of-eu-nationals-in-malta
Hi there,
Congratulations on organising such an informative and interesting event.
My name is Freya and I am a british citizen currently running a small maltese NGO called GetUpStandUp! over here. I was wondering if it would be at all possible to attend perhaps near the end of this event to give the audience some details about our EU integration project called Next Door Family EU which aims to aid the smooth integration of non-eu families. We hope to organise 20 separate lunches between maltese and non EU families on 18th November, and are currently looking for families to participate. Our hope is that this will be a fun day full of food, laughter and new friends. We wanted to create a relaxed, informal setting for integration and celebrate the strength and beauty of diversity.
I look forwards to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
Freya
http://www.nextdoorfamily.eu
nextdoorfamilymalta@gmail.com
Amanda,
Thanks for the very useful list of possibles for Mike to find out about. However, it can be a bit daunting as locals tend to have been in the sports for years and while newcomers are welcome one would have to be determined to join team sports (Mike’s preferred option I think). Expats are forming various teams and pool together for informal kick-arounds. This is a good area for discussion on Wed 10th then.
Mike, there are tennis clubs for adults of all levels if that is one of your sports, also sailing at Vikings (Floriana and Portomasso (also windsurfing). If rugby or cricket there are adult teams who welcome players of varying levels…also badmington…and if you are more into individual sports there are clubs for sea kayaking, climbing, running, open water swimming/swimming, triathlon… It takes a bit of digging but there is plenty of stuff out there…if it has to be footie, there are 5 a side teams which play at a more casual level, and plenty of pitches for hire.
Mike,
A very useful point you make here re sports clubs. In fact, unfortunately, the pro or experienced attitude starts very early here in Malta. If you have kids here who you just want to play informally with (footie, tennis, etc) and try to find a suitable place to do this, it’s almost impossible. It’s the beach (only open space that’s public more or less – Ta Qali is weedy, rough and with rocks and stones), or you have to hire a court (private, hotel ones) etc etc. Not all kids want to be hot-housed from nappies in football schools from a tender age. My son is interested in football now, age 10-11, but joining a team is difficult as most kids in them have been playing for years already and there’s no provision to start ‘later in life’! It’s a trend that pervades. And where can parents just introduce kids to sports, freely, without the need to buy expensive kit, pay subs? More public sports areas please Malta! For all ages…
I’ve been living in Malta for about two years now and I would really like to discuss with other people what types of beginner adult recreational sports/sport leagues people have found?
I was a member of many sports teams/clubs during University but most of the sports clubs & teams I have contacted (water polo, football, sailing etc.) are usually for experienced players.
Any thoughts?
Hi Mike,
Just add a comment here, under the post, with some useful info about what you’d like most to see discussed / brought up in future seminars perhaps, re expat life in Malta. We’ll be picking two commentators at random from those who submit a comment. Close for comments is midnight Sat 6th October. We’ll let ‘winners’ know by email personally about how to collect tickets etc. Cheers!
Hello,
How do you enter the giveaway for the complementary tickets?
We’re retiring to Gozo early next year from Canada (British by birth). Will any of this be recorded and available online?
Thank you for your reply.
That’s great news! I currently live in the UK but hope to relocate to Malta in the near future and your seminar sounds like the ideal event for me to attend!! Too short notice for me this time but will definitely be at the next one. Thanks again
Hi Lisa,
The intention is to have an expats event every 6 months or so.
Regards,
James Grech
LEAD Events
Hi,
Just wanted to ask how often you do these seminars? Is it a one off or done on a regular basis?