Work begins to establish an Advance Passenger Information System at the Airport

Immigration has started working on establishing an Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) at the Ibrahim Nasir Male’ International Airport, which allows information on arrival and departure passengers to be received and sent to the respective countries in advance.

Controller of Immigration and Emigration Abdulla Shahid said today that this system, established with the aid of the Indian government, will allow information on passengers arriving in and departing from Maldives to reach the necessary governments before the flights land in those countries.

“Once this system is established, our Immigration will have the list of all passengers travelling to the Maldives,” Shahid said, speaking of the new system, of which the costs are fully covered by the Indian government. “And this list will be sent to the other country involved as well.”

Shahid said that APIS is established in many countries around the world, and that complaints are often received for the absence of this system in the Maldives. This system will allow steps to be taken in advance, if necessary, before a passenger arrives.

Shahid said that all the information in a person’s passport will be conveyed in advance via this system.

He also said that the hardware necessary for the system has already been set up and what remains now is just the installation of the software. Six Indians have already received training on how to use this system.

He further said that the actual operation of the system will be in collaboration with Civil Aviation and IATA.