The long-standing issue of undocumented foreign workers in the Maldives will be resolved by May next year, Minister of Homeland Security, Labour and Technology, Ali Ihusaan, announced at the “Ahaa” public forum last night.
Speaking at the event, Minister Ihusaan stated that previous administrations failed to take the expatriate crisis seriously. In contrast, the current government has aggressively addressed the issue through “Operation Kurangi,” a major initiative focused on collecting biometrics and verifying expatriate worker identities.
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According to the Minister, when the administration took office, 295,000 foreign workers were on record, but only 22,000 had verified identities and fingerprints. He stated that through recent government efforts, authorities have successfully captured biometrics and verified records for 260,000 foreign workers.
Minister Ihusaan said previously that another four per cent of unverified foreign workers have already departed the Maldives. Consequently, only about one per cent of the expatriates remaining in the country have yet to provide biometric data or photographs.
He also noted this achievement places the Maldives alongside Singapore and the UAE as the only three nations globally with unverified expatriate populations reduced to one per cent.
Ahead of the May target, phase two of the operation will separate legal workers from undocumented migrants and initiate deportations for those employed outside their authorised scope of work.
“By the time this operation concludes in May next year, our target is to have resolved the expatriate issue to an internationally accepted standard”, Minister Ihusaan said.
