Maldives Immigration has begun facilitating the return of undocumented and illegal expatriate workers who wish to return to their countries coinciding with the reopening of the borders of the Maldives.
Maldives Immigration stated expatriate workers with a valid passport can directly go to the airport for repatriation, starting from July 24 until December 31, with the filled Application for Voluntary Departure form available from the Maldives Immigration website. The authority said expatriate workers with any restriction on international travel will not be granted assistance for repatriation under the programme. Additionally, Immigration revealed facilitation for the repatriation of expatriate workers without a passport or with expired passports, will be provided from its Expatriate Monitoring and Repatriation Section.
One of the major decisions of the government to contain the spread of COVID-19 is relocating expatriate workers living in overcrowded accommodations. As part of efforts, the government began repatriating undocumented workers wishing to return back to their countries. So far, Maldives Immigration have repatriated over 14,000 expatriate workers from the Maldives amid the COVID-19 pandemic.