The Maldives passport regulation has been amended to fix the fine for passport misplacement not exceeding MVR 2,000.
Under previous regulations, misplacement incurred a fine ranging from MVR 5,000 to MVR 20,000. A first-time misplacement resulted in a fine of MVR 5,000, MVR 10,000 for a second occurrence, and MVR 20,000 for a third instance.
The amendment to the regulation specifies that if a valid police report confirming non-negligence in the passport's misplacement is presented, the fine will not exceed MVR 2,000.
If the misplaced passport had expired, the customer will not be fined under the new regulation.
The new amendment provides leniency for international travel in emergencies despite the outstanding fine. Such individuals will receive temporary documents permitting their transportation.
Additionally, legal guardians or parents of children below the age of 18, or specially abled persons and handicapped persons must be responsible with maintaining their passports.
The amendments to the regulation also include conditions for issuing more than one passport, including official and diplomatic passports.
Statistics from Maldives Immigration reveal it had issued 56,326 passports in 2022, and as of June this year the authority issued 32,500 passports.
The authority received 800 reports of passport misplacement in 2022, and as of June this year, it had received 300 reports on the same issue.
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