The Maldives Immigration has announced that foreigners entering the Maldives on open visas and engaging in work outside the scope of their permits will be deported.
According to Immigration, many foreigners misuse their open visas with the support of some locals, allowing them to operate businesses or take jobs unlawfully. This practice has been one of the most frequent violations identified during ongoing operations to track down illegal migrants in the Maldives. Authorities noted that although some businesses are registered under the names of Maldivians, the real financial benefits are reaped by foreigners.
Immigration stressed that while foreigners are not legally permitted to work in the Maldives under open visas, locals complicit in such arrangements will also face consequences. Agencies that bring in foreign workers have been urged not to place them in jobs outside the scope of their approved work visas.
The involvement of foreigners in the country’s businesses is causing significant economic challenges. These include black-market currency exchange and the takeover of local business sectors. To counter this and mitigate the impact of illegal migrants on the economy, the government has introduced stricter measures, including job categories reserved exclusively for locals, suspending services provided through the Expat System for those who fail to pay fees related to foreigners, along with heavy fines are also in place for those who neglect legal obligations regarding foreign workers.
According to Immigration, more than 11,000 work visas were issued in August alone. While a total of 11,651 work visas were issued, 11,320 visas were issued from the Male’ Immigration office and 331 from regional offices.
Immigration also issued 1,150 business visas, 287 dependent visas, 140 special visas, 31 student visas, 398 sponsorship declaration visas and 684 visas of other categories.
Under efforts to identify illegal migrants, statistics show 26 foreigners were arrested in 25 raids conducted in August. While 129 foreigners were deported in August for various reasons, these include 14 foreigners who entered the Maldives illegally, 28 foreigners who were taken into custody for various offences and 87 foreigners who violated their visas.
In addition to deportation, foreigners who wanted to return to their own countries for various reasons were repatriated. In August, 28 foreigners were repatriated for health reasons, while 282 left voluntarily.
Multiple institutions are working together to solve the problem of illegal foreigners in the Maldives. Authorities are collecting information on all foreigners working in the Maldives and deporting those found to be residing in the Maldives illegally.