Minister of Homeland Security, Labour and Technology Ali Ihusaan has said that biometric data has so far been collected from 294,000 foreign nationals as part of ongoing efforts to address the issue of foreigners living in violation of regulations.
The Minister made the statement while responding to a question from a member of Parliament regarding the government’s efforts to address the issue of undocumented foreign nationals.
Minister Ihusaan said that when the current administration came to power, there were 295,678 foreign nationals living in the Maldives. Of these, he said, government institutions had no means of biometrically identifying the migrant workforce except for 27,200 people. The Minister said this meant that the identities of around 270,000 people living in the Maldives were unknown.
Highlighting the work carried out so far to address the issue of foreign nationals, the Minister said information on 294,000 foreign nationals had now been collected. He added that, at present, only 1,102 people remained unidentified.
“Following the work carried out so far, only 1,102 people currently remain unidentified in the Maldives. This means that, out of the 295,000 people we had previously, information on 294,000 people has now been collected,” the Minister said.
As part of efforts to address the issue of foreign nationals living in violation of regulations, work is also under way to manage their work permits and verify their validity.