Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail states the administration aims to repatriate over 20,000 undocumented expatriate workers this year.
Speaking at the Parliament of the Maldives on the emergency motion submitted on expatriate workers, Minister Fayyaz said the issue of undocumented expatriates has been one of the toughest challenges for the administration. However, he noted efforts to resolve the issue has seen significant progress recently, including changes to the expatriate regulation which now clearly stipulates the type of work which can be done by expatriates and their wages.
The economic minister added significant progress has also been achieved in repatriating undocumented workers from the Maldives. Noting most of the undocumented workers are from Bangladesh, the minister revealed over 4,000 undocumented Bangladeshi workers have been repatriated from the Maldives, through joint efforts of the governments of the two countries. He said the aim is repatriate over 20,000 undocumented expatriates by the end of the year.
Furthermore, the economic minister also expressed belief some people are exploiting expatriates for political purposes by encouraging them to protest against the administration and commit violence. He said this is done by the same people who brought the expatriates to the Maldives and forced this problem on the administration. He added the administration can only resolve the issue of expatriates with the full support and cooperation of the parliament.