My partner is an EU national and I am Australian. I have a job offer to move to Malta and want to know about the process of obtaining residence and our ability to travel whilst it is processing. We have been advised to have my wife apply for EU economic self sufficiency residence and I apply as her spouse the same time (she does not work due to disability but receives payments). In order to do this I understand we need to go to Malta and get a lease and apply for residence. Once the application is in we would like to travel back to Australia to pack up and sell up and send some stuff over to Malta. Does anyone know if we free to travel whilst the residence is processing without affecting it?
Moved in July. Wife is Italian I am Australian. They said her residence card would take up to 6 weeks to process and mine as her spouse would take up to 6 months. They both were done in 8 weeks. Have heard waiting times are around that mark for most people at the moment. Whilst waiting I could exercise 90 days (out of 180) of free movement in Europe (or schengen more precisely), because I am Australian, and after those 90 days were up, I would have then been unable to leave Malta whilst waiting for the residence card to process.