Deadline extended for expatriate fee settlements

The Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology announced on Sunday an extension to the deadline for employers who have signed settlement agreements for outstanding expatriate fees and penalties. This decision comes in response to numerous complaints from regular payers experiencing difficulties in meeting current deadlines.

Effective next Friday, employers who consistently pay expatriate fees through the "Expat system" will be granted an extended period to settle their outstanding dues. Further details regarding these changes to the settlement agreement will be made available on the Expat system's homepage.

It is important to note that this extension is exclusively for regular payers. Employers who have not made any payments under the settlement agreement in previous periods will not be eligible for this new arrangement.

The government initiated efforts to recover outstanding expatriate fees on June 3 of the previous year. State Minister Abdul-Majeedh Ibrahim of the Homeland Ministry reported on February 2 that MVR 1.2 billion of the MVR 1.7 billion in expatriate fees had been recovered.

Following its assumption of office, the current administration launched "Operation Kurangi," a nationwide initiative aimed at identifying illegal expatriates. President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu disclosed that data on 178,982 expatriates was collected during this operation. Concurrently, Maldives Immigration, in collaboration with the Maldives Police Services, commenced a joint operation to identify expatriates involved in illegal trade.

The government has set an ambitious goal to resolve the issue of irregular immigrants within the first three years of its term.