The Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology of the country has introduced new rules regarding employment in the Maldives regarding illegal immigration. The revised new rules are outlined on the system's homepage for Digital Online Platform (Expat) users. It was implemented from Sunday (October 6).
The local media reported this information citing the Ministry of Home Affairs of Maldives.
Expat System is an online platform of Maldives, through which the recruitment of workers from different countries and the visa fees of these migrant workers are deposited in the country's government treasury. Quota is also applied for recruitment of new staff through this online platform.
Bangladeshis are now the largest number of foreign workers working in the Maldives. There are more than 100,000 Bangladeshis scattered in various islands including the capital Male. Most of the workers have to live outside the mall or on the islands for work though most of them do not have any valid documents.
Due to religious similarities and the abundance of relatives, most of the Bangladeshis who came to Maldives in search of livelihood began their expatriate life with extreme suffering. The main reason for this is due to the lack of wages or neglect of the brokers and the country's employers. Some expatriates came to the country on free visas in the hope of higher salary; some were forced to leave the workplace without the permission of the employers or ran away from the company and started working in another company due to better salary.
As these expatriates have to work illegally in the country, in order to find them, Maldivian companies are forced to file missing or absconding cases with the government. Because, if they are caught by the police while working somewhere, their work permit holder or owner will have to pay the fine. Otherwise there is a danger of blocking the working sides of those migrant workers.
However, the Maldivian government is going to amend the country's current immigration employment rules and introduce new rules. By doing this, if a migrant worker runs away from their own company and the company files a missing person case against the migrant worker, the company will have to pay the country's government fee of 64.9 USD and related visa fees and fines to the government treasury.
In addition, if a worker with a work permit runs away due to the negligence of Maldivian migrant employers, the company will have to pay a fee of USD 129.70. If such cases are canceled, the country's Ministry of Home Affairs has said that 648.5 US dollars will have to be paid to the government treasury as 'Work Permit Missing Withdrawal Service Fee'.
According to the information of the country's Ministry of Home Affairs, those who previously applied for a missing case in the expat system, if they find the migrant worker who escaped, they can withdraw the migrant worker's case if they want under this new rule. This opportunity will be available from October 6 to October 30. However, those who wish to withdraw the missing cases beyond this stipulated period, will be given a non-chargeable period of seven days only, within which the report can be withdrawn. Otherwise the same fee will apply.
Incidentally, the government of the country has taken several new initiatives in order to ensure the residence of migrant workers in accordance with the laws of Maldives. Within the next three years, the Department of Immigration and the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Maldives are conducting a special campaign or 'Operation Kurangi' to achieve this goal.