Maldives Immigration has revealed over 10,000 expatriates have been repatriated from the Maldives amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Immigration revealed 10,879 foreigners from Asian countries have been repatriated from the Maldives amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of them are from India and Bangladesh, with 3,384 Indians and 2,924 Bangladeshis recorded to have been repatriated from the Maldives during the pandemic. Immigration also revealed 808 individuals from Indonesia, 336 from the Philippines, 350 from Thailand and 291 from Sri Lanka have been repatriated.
As per the statistics of Immigration, 95% of the individuals repatriated from the Maldives to Asian countries were expatriate workers. The rest of the individuals had been in the country under a tourist visa. Meanwhile, 90% of the expatriates repatriated to Bangladesh were undocumented workers.
Immigration also revealed the number of foreigners repatriated to non-Asian countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, Immigration revealed 2,091 individuals had been repatriated to European countries, while 41 individuals were repatriated to African countries. All of them were tourists.
The government has been conducting special efforts to repatriate tourists and expatriate workers stranded in the Maldives amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Special focus is given to repatriate undocumented workers living in the Maldives.