Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has said that the State has now received over a billion from the nearly MVR 2 billion due in expat related fees such as for work permits and quotas.
Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has said that the State has now received over a billion from the nearly MVR 2 billion due in expat related fees such as for work permits and quotas.
In a press conference held at the President's Office yesterday, the Minister said the ministry had announced even on June that MVR 1.7 billion remained unpaid in work visa, work permit and quota fees.
Following this, on July 24, the names of companies that had failed to settle these payments, and owed over MVR 100,000 had been published.
Ihusan said that after this was done, about MVR 1 billion has now been paid. As of now, MVR 703,799 remains still due.
Companies which have failed to make these payments now have access to the government's XPAT system blocked. Ihusan said that access would be granted only after the payments are settled.
The government has been running special operations to identify and detain expatriates living and working illegally in the country.
Speaking at the news conference, Immigration Controller Shamaan Waheed stated that to date, over 4000 such expatriates have been deported.
Meanwhile, the Ministry is also working on creating a register of expatriate workers in the country under a project titled 'Kurangi', working across the country to record identification details of such persons such as fingerprints, photos and other details.
Under this project, information has now been gathered of 6891 expatriates, Ihusan said. He said that the first phase of the project is expected to reach completion by January next year.
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