CCLEX Global

CCLEX Global is the immigration and private client tax practice of the Maltese law firm Chetcuti Cauchi, and it works from offices at 86 Merchants Street in Valletta. Its lawyers advise people whose lives cross borders: founders who have just sold a business, families planning a move, retirees choosing where to settle and investors buying property abroad. For UK readers weighing up Malta, it is a specialist route into residence, citizenship, tax and property advice, delivered by partners rather than passed down to junior staff.

On VisitMalta.co.uk the practice appears in our directories of immigration consultants in Malta and lawyers in Malta. If you are still deciding whether the island suits you, our Malta relocation guide for UK buyers and families sets out the practical picture before you speak to anyone.

Who CCLEX is and how it works

The practice exists to give integrated legal and tax advice on residency, citizenship, tax and real estate. It has 22 years of experience behind it, around 20 languages spoken across the team and clients in more than 160 countries. The parent firm, Chetcuti Cauchi, is a Maltese law firm with foundations in the 1990s, and it belongs to Andersen Global, an international association with a presence in over 450 locations in more than 170 countries. That reach matters when a client's affairs touch several jurisdictions at once.

Every matter is handled on a partner-led basis. In practice that means you deal directly with an experienced lawyer who owns the strategy, the advice and the execution from the first conversation to completion, rather than meeting a senior name at the pitch and a different person afterwards. The firm also coordinates with other trusted advisers, such as private banks and wealth managers, where a case needs them.

One distinctive tool is the CCLEX Mobility Assets Spectrum, a framework the firm built to classify residence rights and citizenships on a scale from temporary residence through permanent residence to different classes of citizenship. It separates tactical solutions from long-term or legacy positions, so a client can see what they already hold and how a change would interact with their tax exposure.

Residence and citizenship advice

Immigration is the heart of the practice. The lawyers advise on residency by investment, tax residency, nomad residency, corporate immigration, citizenship by descent, citizenship by merit and citizenship by investment, as well as immigration routes between the United States and Europe. Much of the work concerns Malta, including the Malta Permanent Residence Programme and naturalisation for exceptional services, but the firm also advises on programmes elsewhere in Europe and further afield.

The track record behind this is specific. Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti, a co-founder of the firm, was accredited in 1999 to handle Maltese permanent residence applications and in January 2014 became the first Maltese lawyer accredited as a Malta citizenship agent for the Individual Investor Programme, under licence IIP 001. Over 25 years he has handled more than 2,000 residency and citizenship applications. Dr Antoine Saliba Haig, a partner in the immigration and global mobility practice, specialises in Maltese citizenship and residency routes including descent, marriage, naturalisation and investment.

If you are a British national thinking of a long-term base in Malta, our digital nomad guide to living and working in Malta explains the lighter-touch route for remote workers, while CCLEX can advise on the heavier commitments of permanent residence and citizenship.

Tax planning for mobile families

The tax side of the practice is led by Magdalena Velkovska, Director of Private Client Tax, who advises internationally mobile individuals and families on personal tax planning, relocation and wealth structuring. Typical mandates involve tax residency, estate planning and asset protection for family offices, entrepreneurs, creatives and senior professionals.

The personal tax planning service covers income structuring, succession and estate planning, relocation planning (including preparation before arrival and exit planning), investment structuring for international property and portfolios, and capital gains planning. The firm also works on tax regimes designed for foreign investors, retirees and mobile professionals, and articles on its site cover topics such as alternatives to the UK non-dom regime for high-net-worth families and the Malta individual tax programme. The practice is a legal adviser rather than a substitute for personal advice, so what applies to you depends on your own circumstances.

For background before a first meeting, read our Malta tax guide for UK nationals, which sets out how a UK resident is treated, and our overview of the Malta corporate tax structure if a company is part of your plans.

Real estate and corporate work

Dr Maria Chetcuti Cauchi leads the real estate practice and is Managing Partner of CCLEX Global. She advises international private clients, investors, developers and companies on high-value residential, commercial and mixed-use transactions, with a focus on title due diligence, contract negotiation, regulatory compliance, financing and managing multi-party projects from acquisition to completion.

Dr Charlene Mifsud heads the corporate and commercial legal team, covering company law, property conveyancing, employment relations, mergers and acquisitions, commercial property and business incentives. Dr Priscilla Mifsud Parker leads the Families and Wealth and the Corporate, Trusts and Fintech practice groups, working on wealth structuring and preservation for business families, while Dr Natasha Cachia specialises in risk advisory work including anti-money laundering rules, sanctions and regulatory matters.

The firm also supports start-ups, offering tailored legal help at preferential rates and guidance on intellectual property and patentability.

The people you will meet

The team page lists partners, directors and a bench of managers and associates. Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti works in English, Maltese, Italian and French. Marina Magri, Director of Immigration and Global Mobility, leads the immigration practice with a focus on investment migration and executive mobility. The immigration and global mobility group includes managers Claudia Cilia Buhagiar, Roberta Anastasi, Pauline Gouder and Valentina Lozanova, and Nertila Aliko manages global mobility and tax work, covering international assignments and employer obligations.

Its clients are forward-looking people: founders, technologists, artists and musicians, athletes, philanthropists, retirees, family offices and wealth advisers who refer their own clients. Community work also runs through the practice, including a charitable programme in which each department adopts causes, pro bono legal support, and exhibitions of Maltese artists in the offices.

Industries and sectors the firm knows

Rather than organise itself only by legal topic, the practice groups its advice by the kind of client. Separate pages cover entrepreneurs and founders, high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, retirees and expatriates, investors and global property buyers, tech professionals and digital nomads, technologists and innovators, athletes and sportspersons, artists and musicians, creatives, influencers and media professionals, philanthropists and impact families, and private wealth advisers and intermediaries.

The common thread is a cross-border life. Founders often come to the firm after a business exit or capital raise, when decisions about where to live, which passport to hold and where assets sit can change future tax outcomes considerably. Others are families managing long-term arrangements across several countries, individuals relocating or retiring abroad, and investors buying property as part of a wider residence strategy.

Malta's place in this picture is worth understanding. The island is an EU member with a growing professional community, and our guide to the Malta financial services sector explains why advisers, banks and fund managers cluster here. For general orientation on the country itself, start with our about Malta overview. Regular articles and case studies on European residence and tax regimes appear on the firm's site and can help you prepare questions before an initial conversation.

Finding the office and getting started

The office is at 86 Merchants Street in Valletta, the capital's main commercial street, within the walled city. The practice occupies the restored 17th-century Palazzo Ursula, where it has been based since 2010 and where it displays work by local artists. Our Valletta guide covers how to reach the city and what to see around it, and you can browse hotels in Valletta if you are travelling in for a meeting.

Because every engagement is tailored, the site does not print fixed fees or opening hours. To begin, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the firm.