In an operation conducted by Immigration in Malé today to locate foreigners living illegally in the Maldives, 254 individuals were found and taken into the agency’s custody.
This government launched "Operation Kurangi" in May 2024 to collect biometrics of foreign workers in the Maldives. Through that operation, the 10-fingerprints and photographs of more than 191,723 foreigners have been taken and the database has been updated.
After providing numerous grace periods for these individuals to enter the legal and regulatory framework to work in the Maldives, the final deadline granted for that purpose expired on the 2nd of May.
Consequently, Immigration conducted a special operation in Malé today from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
An Immigration media official told "Mihaaru" that during this operation conducted in various areas of Malé, 1,344 individuals were inspected, and among them, 254 people living illegally were taken into the agency’s custody.
In a post on X, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu stated that among the foreign workers currently established and working in the Maldives with verified active work permits, the process of collecting 10-fingerprints and clear photographs to allow for biometric identification has been completed for 98 percent.
According to President Muizzu, this figure stood at only 13 percent on November 17, 2023.
He stated that under this operation, which aims to bring a permanent solution to the issue of foreigners living illegally in the Maldives, the work to be done over the next six months is to locate those living illegally and deport them from the Maldives.
Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan stated that President Muizzu had assigned the national mission of resolving the issue of undocumented foreign workers in the Maldives to the agency from his first day in office. Therefore, Ihusaan said the Home Ministry and all relevant government institutions have worked tirelessly over the past two years to achieve that objective.
While thanking all employees and institutions that participated in today’s operation, Ihusaan also congratulated President Muizzu on the successful operation.
He stated that the success achieved by this government in resolving the issue of foreigners within its first two years is an amount that previous governments could not achieve over many years.
Under the mass legalization program, opportunities were also given to foreign workers in the Maldives who did not have work permits, those with expired permits, and foreigners without official identification documents to live in the Maldives within the laws and regulations.
