The Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations has decided to summon the relevant authorities for the inquiry on the difficulties faced in resolving the issue of the growing number of undocumented expatriates in the Maldives.
During a committee meeting held on June 1, discussions were held with Maldives Police Service (MPS) and the Local Government Authority (LGA) to discuss the difficulties faced in addressing the problem of undocumented expatriates, especially in the atolls. MPS stated the lack of information on the location of the expatriates is one of the main problems faced in addressing the issue. MPS said although the number of undocumented expatriates in the country can be identified, the frequent relocation of such expatriates for work makes it difficult to track them.
Following the discussions with MPS and LGA, Parliamentarian Hassan Afeef proposed to summon all the relevant authorities to the committee for the inquiry in order to identify areas which need to be addressed. As such, Afeef proposed to summon Maldives Immigration, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance to the committee.
The proposal by Parliamentarian Afeef was accepted, with the committee deciding to summon the authorities for the inquiry next week.