Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusan said that the operation has reached 96 islands, completing the process in 21 of them, and that 8,385 expatriates have had their biometrics recorded so far.
Under Operation Kurangi, an initiative launched in May by the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology to regularize undocumented expatriates, biometric data for over 8,000 individuals has been collected.
Responding to a question in Parliament, Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusan said that the operation has reached 96 islands, completing the process in 21 of them, and that 8,385 expatriates have had their biometrics recorded so far.
Minister Ihusan said that the operation’s swift pace, with a target completion date by April next year, is anticipated to be finished by February.
The operation is set to expand into the Greater Male' area next month, with next year's immigration budget including funds for raids on expatriates in islands outside the capital.
Earlier, Ihusan stated that by the end of the three year initiative, all expatriates in the Maldives would have their biometric data and photographs collected and verified.
Earlier in 2019, an effort under former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih regularized over 40,000 undocumented expatriates, though the issue remained unresolved, and registration eventually stalled.
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