Do I need health insurance to get a residence permit in Malta?

Yes, adequate health insurance coverage is generally a required condition for most categories of residence permit in Malta, including for self-sufficient individuals, reflecting the general principle under the Immigration Act, Chapter 217 of the Laws of Malta, and related regulations that applicants must be able to demonstrate they will not become a burden on Malta's public healthcare or social assistance systems, meaning simply having some form of insurance is not automatically sufficient if it does not meet the specific coverage requirements applicable to your particular type of application. The specific criteria for what qualifies as adequate health insurance, such as minimum coverage levels, whether it must cover you throughout the entirety of Malta, and whether certain low-cost or highly restricted policies would be accepted, can vary and are worth confirming directly against the current requirements for your specific residence category before you purchase a policy, since submitting an application with insurance that doesn't actually meet the required standard could result in delay or refusal. Given the specific and sometimes technical nature of these requirements, checking directly with Identità, or with an immigration lawyer familiar with current requirements for self-sufficient residence applications, before finalising your insurance arrangements would help ensure your application isn't held up over an avoidable documentation issue.