Interviewing a Carer in Malta: Questions to Ask and Checks to Make

Choosing someone to care for your mum or dad is a big decision, and an interview is your best chance to find out whether a carer is right for your family, and whether your family is right for them. This guide covers what to settle before you meet, questions to ask, how to run a fair trial, and the checks to make afterwards. The checks are yours to make: CarerMalta shows what each carer states on their profile and doesn't check documents, qualifications or references.

Before the interview: write down the job

Carers can only tell you whether a job suits them if they know what it is. Before you meet anyone, write a short description and share it:

• Who needs care, described in general terms: for example, "an older woman who needs help with mobility and meals". Keep medical details private until you've chosen someone.
• The duties: personal care, meals, light housework, outings, company.
• Live-in or visiting, and the hours: which days, which times, and whether nights are involved.
• The weekly rest day and how leave will be covered.
• The pay, how often it's paid, and that it meets at least the legal minimum. Our cost guide sets out the 2026 figures.
• Who the employer will be, usually your parent. Our employer guide explains what that involves.

If possible, include your parent in the interview, or at least in a second meeting. They will spend the most time with the carer.

Questions to ask

Experience

• "Tell me about the people you've cared for before. What did a normal day look like?"
• "How long did you stay in your last job, and why did it end?"
• "Have you supported someone with limited mobility? How did you help them move around safely?"
• "Have you supported someone living with dementia? What helped on difficult days?"

The daily routine

• "How would you plan a day with my mum: meals, personal care, rest, getting out?"
• "What would you cook for someone who needs soft food or a simple diet?"
• "How do you keep a family updated? A message each day, a notebook, a call?"

Emergencies

• "What would you do if my dad fell and couldn't get up?" Listen for staying calm, not moving him if he's hurt, and calling 112 (source: UNHCR Malta: emergency services and helplines) and the family.
• "What would you do if he became confused and wanted to leave the house at night?"

Living and working arrangements

• "Which day off suits you, and what do you need from your rest time?"
• For a live-in role: "What would you need in your room to feel at home?"
• "Which languages do you speak? Are you comfortable with English and some Maltese?"

Practical points

• "Are you able to work in Malta, and for which employer is your permit?" (see checking the right to work)
• "When could you start?"
• "Who can I call for a reference?"

Let the carer ask questions too. A carer who asks about your parent's routine, the rest day and how emergencies are handled is usually taking the job seriously.

Keep the questions to the job

Ask about the work, not the person's private life. Questions about religion, marital status, pregnancy or plans for a family aren't relevant to caring for your parent, and treating someone differently for reasons like these can be discrimination. DIER lists discriminatory treatment among the cases a worker can take to the Industrial Tribunal (source: DIER: breaching conditions of employment).

Nationality isn't a skill. Ask about languages and experience instead.

A trial shift: paid, and only if it's lawful

A short trial can help both sides, but it has to be lawful and paid.

• A carer already employed by another family on a single permit can't do a trial with you. A single permit doesn't allow its holder to "carry out paid duties assigned by parties other than the identified employer" (source: Identità: single permit). Meet, talk and introduce them to your parent instead, and wait for a change-of-employer application to be approved before they work for you (our non-EU carer guide).
• A paid trial is employment. Jobsplus says the engagement and termination forms "are mandatory for registering any paid employment in Malta" (source: Jobsplus: employment forms), so ask Jobsplus how to register a short trial.
• Pay at least the minimum. Under the domestic-service order, the 2026 minimum is €5.82 an hour or €38.82 a day, and anyone paid by the hour who works more than four hours in a day is owed at least a day's pay (source: S.L. 452.170, the domestic-service order).
• Unpaid "trial days" aren't fair, and a carer who is asked to work for free may simply not come back.

Check the right to work

EU citizens. "EU Nationals do not need a permit to reside and work in Malta" (source: Identità: EU nationals). You still register the job with Jobsplus. For an EU citizen working in Malta for the first time, Jobsplus asks for an ID document and proof of residence in Malta, such as a rent agreement (source: Jobsplus: employment forms).

Carers from outside the EU need a single permit for the job with your parent:

• The permit is tied to one employer and one job. Identità says the permit "is specific to the Employer and the Designation", and any change makes it "null and void" (source: Identità: change of designation or employer). A carer whose residence card names another employer can't start with you until a change-of-employer application is approved.
• What counts as permission to work: Identità says a person "can only start employment after receiving official documentation in the form of an Interim Receipt or the actual eResident document" (source: Identità: working and residing in Malta). An Interim Receipt allows work "Only if a temporary authorisation sticker is affixed" (source: Identità: non-EU employment FAQ).
• An Approval in Principle letter is not a permit. Identità says it "does not grant the right to work or reside in Malta yet" (source: Identità: non-EU employment FAQ).
• For the Jobsplus form, you upload the residence card or the Temporary Authorisation to Work (source: Jobsplus: employment forms).

Look at the original document, check the name and the employer, and keep a copy for your records. Never ask for or keep anyone's passport.

Qualifications and references

Qualifications. No permit rule we found requires a care qualification. But if your parent will claim the government's Carer at Home subsidy, "The carer must have a recognised qualification", and each qualification from abroad needs equivalence through MQRIC (source: servizz.gov.mt: Carer at Home), which is part of the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (source: MFHEA (MQRIC)). Ask to see the certificate itself and, for a foreign one, the MQRIC recognition. If you're unsure whether a certificate will be accepted, ask AACC before you offer the job.

On CarerMalta, qualifications and experience are shown as the carer states them.

References. Ask for two, ideally from families the carer worked for in Malta. Call them yourself rather than relying on a letter:

• "How long did they work for you, and what did they do?"
• "How did they handle a difficult day?"
• "Were they reliable about time and days off?"
• "Would you employ them again?"

A police conduct certificate

Many families ask a carer for a Malta Certificate of Conduct. The carer applies for their own:

• Online, through the electronic form on servizz.gov.mt, or in person at the Criminal Records Office, 18 Market Street, Floriana (source: servizz.gov.mt: Malta Certificate of Conduct).
• servizz.gov.mt lists one day to review an application and one day to deliver the certificate (source: servizz.gov.mt: Malta Certificate of Conduct).

It's the carer's own document. Ask to see it; you don't need to keep a copy.

Warning signs

Most carers are exactly who they say they are. Take care, though, if:

• someone else answers for the carer, holds their documents or wants to be paid on their behalf;
• the carer says they paid a fee to get work. Maltese law says no payment may be demanded from anyone for employment services (source: S.L. 452.130, reg. 10), and paying such a fee can leave a carer in debt and vulnerable;
• the right-to-work documents don't add up: a different name, another employer on the card, or only an Approval in Principle letter;
• you're asked to share an e-ID login to "sort out" a permit. Identità says e-ID credentials "must not be shared" (source: Identità: information for non-EU nationals).

If you think a carer is being exploited or is in danger, call Supportline 179, free and open 24 hours a day (source: FSWS: Supportline 179), or 112 in an emergency (source: UNHCR Malta: emergency services and helplines).

A checklist to print

• Job description written and shared: duties, hours, live-in or visiting, rest day, pay
• Interview held, with your parent involved if possible
• Right to work checked: EU ID, or a residence card or Interim Receipt with Temporary Authorisation to Work for your parent as employer
• Qualification certificate seen (and MQRIC recognition if foreign), if claiming Carer at Home
• Two references called
• Conduct certificate seen
• Any trial lawful, registered and paid at least the minimum
• Written contract ready, and the Jobsplus engagement form ready to send on day one

When you're ready, browse carer profiles and contact carers directly, or post a job with the hours and arrangement using the button below.

Sources we checked

Every figure and rule in this guide links to the official page it comes from. We re-check them when the rules or the Budget change.

1. Identità: working and residing in Malta, page updated 14 Jan 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
2. Identità: change of designation or employer, page updated 24 Jul 2025. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
3. Identità: single permit, page updated 27 Jan 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
4. Identità: non-EU employment FAQ, page updated 13 Oct 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
5. Identità: EU nationals, page updated 16 Jul 2025. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
6. Jobsplus: employment forms. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
7. servizz.gov.mt: Carer at Home, page updated 20 Jun 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
8. MFHEA (MQRIC), page updated 22 Feb 2024. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
9. servizz.gov.mt: Malta Certificate of Conduct, page updated 30 Jul 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
10. S.L. 452.170, the domestic-service order. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
11. S.L. 452.130, reg. 10. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
12. DIER: breaching conditions of employment, page updated 11 Apr 2025. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
13. Identità: information for non-EU nationals, page updated 24 Jul 2025. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
14. FSWS: Supportline 179, page updated 10 Jun 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
15. UNHCR Malta: emergency services and helplines. Checked 20 Oct 2026.