When people speak about relocation, they often focus on paperwork, permits, and procedures. But behind every successful relocation story is a very human journey filled with uncertainty, resilience, and adaptation. The founder of Bizzart Services – Barbara P. Fiksmer knows this firsthand. Having moved to Malta as a third-country national herself, Barbara transformed personal challenges into a professional mission: helping other expats navigate Maltese bureaucracy with clarity and confidence. In this interview, she shares her story, insights, and vision for supporting the expat community in Malta.
Learning Malta the Hard Way
1. You are an expat yourself. Where are you originally from, and what inspired your move to Malta?
When I made the decision back in 2017 to leave Serbia and start a new chapter abroad, Malta quickly became the obvious choice. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live and work on an island rich in culture, history, and stunning architecture, with the sea practically at your doorstep? It felt like the perfect blend of opportunity, beauty, and adventure.
2. What were your first impressions and personal challenges when you relocated?
When I first arrived in Malta, I felt a huge sense of excitement, like a fresh chapter was opening for my family and me. Everything felt new, colourful, and full of potential. Honestly, nothing felt too difficult at the start, even though the reality was that support for foreigners back then was nowhere near as developed as it is today.
Just like many other TCNs, I began with entry-level jobs in hospitality. And that’s exactly where I met my “first true Maltese friend”: bureaucracy. It was confusing, slow, and often overwhelming, and that experience shaped everything I do today. The challenges I faced then became the motivation behind building a service that gives others the support I wish I had.
3. How did these experiences influence your interest in supporting other expats?
Honestly, my journey as an expat shaped everything I do today.Instead of letting those challenges discourage me, they sparked something in me, a desire to make the process easier for others.
Every confusing form, every long queue, every ‘Wait… what document do they want now?’ moment became part of my unofficial training and ultimately, the foundation of what I do today.
Over time, I realised that many expats feel the same mix of excitement and overwhelm, but they don’t always know where to turn. That’s when it clicked: I could turn my own experiences into solutions. Helping others became not just a job, but a mission. And I genuinely enjoy it, the human stories, the problem-solving, the little victories when someone finally gets their permit… It’s all incredibly rewarding.
Barbara’s Experience Turned into a Mission
4. Before founding Bizzart Services, what kind of professional background did you have, and how did it prepare you for working in residency and visa administration?
I’ve always been a people-person, and my entire career reflects that. After completing my Master’s degree, I worked in municipal administration as a Community Inspector, where I dealt with all kinds of situations.
When I moved to Malta, I continued working closely with people, first in hospitality and retail, and later helping to build operations within a start-up employment agency. That experience opened the door for me to understand procedures for both non-EU and EU applicants on a much deeper level. All of these roles shaped the way I work today, with patience, clarity, and the ability to approach even the most complicated residency and visa processes. It’s exactly what prepared me to create Bizzart Services, a place where people feel supported, understood, and guided every step of the way.
5. How did the idea for Bizzart Services begin? What motivated you to transform your personal experience into a structured business supporting expats?
Bizzart Services actually started very simply. At first, I was just helping friends and acquaintances with small things, filling out forms, writing CVs, and explaining procedures. But very quickly, those small things grew into full application assistance, guidance, and ongoing support.
What really motivated me was my own experience. I know firsthand how confusing, overwhelming, and even discouraging it can feel when you’re starting a new chapter in a new country. I wanted to make that process lighter, clearer, and far less stressful for others. That’s where the idea for Bizzart Services was born, to create a structured, reliable service where clients can solve as many things as possible in one place, with someone who truly understands their journey.
It’s practical, it’s personal, and honestly… It’s my passion.
Barbara p. fiksmer
6. Starting a service-based business is never easy. What were the first steps you took in establishing Bizzart, and what early challenges did you face?
Honestly, I didn’t face many challenges in the very beginning. These days, everything is done online, so the first real step I had to take was upgrading my digital skills, getting comfortable with new software, online platforms, and simply improving the way I work on a computer.
But if I had to point out one challenge that has stayed with me from day one until today, it’s the constant change in application procedures. Every year, the process becomes a little more complex, and there always seems to be one more document to prepare. Still, instead of seeing the complications as obstacles, I turned them into motivation to stay updated, stay sharp, and make things easier for the people who come to me for help.
I enjoy the human stories, the problem-solving, the little victories when someone finally gets their permit.
barbara p. fiksmer
Front Line of Malta’s Expat Administration
7. What are the main services Bizzart offers?
Our main services focus on full assistance with all types of applications, both for employees and employers. That includes managing processes on the Identità and JobsPlus portals, as well as handling submissions through the Social Security and Housing Authority platforms.
In simple terms: if it’s administrative, stressful, or confusing, we make it smooth, clear, and doable. That’s exactly what Bizzart is here for.
barbara p.fiksmer
To learn more about how Bizzart Services can support your requirements in Malta, get in touch with Barbara for personalised assistance across social contacts bellow:
9. Based on your experience working closely with third-country nationals, what are the most common obstacles they encounter when dealing with Malta’s administrative and immigration system?
From my experience, one of the biggest challenges for third-country nationals is simply understanding how the different institutions involved in work and residence permits are connected.
For example, getting an ID card from Identita Malta is just one step, it isn’t sufficient on its own if the employer doesn’t also register the employee on the Jobsplus portal. The procedures can be overly complex and confusing, not just for new workers but also for employers. Unfortunately, any mistake often ends up being very costly, and usually it’s the TCN who bears the brunt.
Navigating Malta’s administrative and immigration system requires detailed, time-consuming research or years of experience. Many TCNs simply don’t have the luxury of that time, they’re on tight deadlines, and in the rush, errors happen, which can be very expensive.
What Comes Next
10. With the recent labour-law and immigration changes affecting TCNs, how do you expect these reforms to impact expats and the service providers supporting them?
With the recent labour policy changes, the most immediate impact I see for TCNs is largely financial. The increased fees, like the new Identità charge, are adding to their budget, yet unfortunately, this hasn’t translated into faster processing times. In fact, delays seem more pronounced at every stage of the application.
From my perspective as a service provider, the intention behind these reforms might be to streamline processes, but right now, the reality is that applicants are paying more without seeing better service delivery. Employers are now subject to stricter compliance measures, but in practice, many either don’t fully understand these obligations or are not closely adhering to them. Ultimately, the burden often falls on the applicant, who ends up facing higher costs and the risk of being rejected for an ID permit.
Perhaps with time, the new policies will settle, and the intended improvements will take effect, but at this moment, it’s a challenging landscape for both expats and the professionals supporting them. Soon, we will see how things go with the new pre-departure test conducted through the Skill Pass website. But, honestly, procedural changes are happening too often, leaving little time for any new policy to truly settle.
3-Minuten-Leitfaden: Was TCNs über neue Arbeitsgesetze wissen müssen
11. As you look ahead, what are your future plans here in Malta, both personally and for Bizzart Services, and how do you hope your work will continue supporting the expat community?
My goal is to continuously improve how we deliver and present the most important information to expats, quickly, clearly, and effectively. I also plan to expand our range of services, always keeping the focus on what really makes a difference for the expat community here in Malta.
I take Bizzart very personally; as I grow, Bizzart grows too, together with my future collaborators. The mission has always remained the same: a sincere desire to make bureaucracy as simple and stress-free as possible for people navigating life in a new country.
Seeing a client smile because we’ve made their journey easier, that’s what keeps me motivated every day.
barbara p. fiksmer
Ongoing Support for Expats
Barbara’s story reflects the reality many expats in Malta face: excitement mixed with uncertainty, opportunity paired with complex administration. What sets her apart is how she chose to respond to those challenges. Rather than accepting bureaucracy as an unavoidable obstacle, she built Bizzart Services as a practical, experience-led response to a system that often feels overwhelming, especially for third-country nationals.
Today, Barbara’s work stands at the intersection of empathy and expertise. Grounded in firsthand experience and strengthened by years of navigating Malta’s evolving procedures, she continues to focus on what matters most — clear information, realistic guidance, and genuine support. As policies change and requirements grow more complex, Bizzart Services remains rooted in a simple goal: helping expats move forward with confidence as they build their lives in Malta.
If you’re an expat living in Malta or Gozo and have a story worth telling, we’d love to hear from you – connect with us through our social media bellow or ein Kontaktformular über unsere Website ausfüllen.
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