Failure to register migrant workers in Kulhudhuffushi to be met with fines

H. Dh. Kulhudhuffushi city council has issued a notice instructing employers to register all migrant workers in the city with the council by July 2.

Kulhudhuffushi council, in its notice, said that Employment Act charges city and atoll councils with the responsibility of maintaining a register of workers in residential islands, and that it had issued a previous notice instructing employers to register all migrant workers, along with the members of their families who reside in Kuhudhuffushi, with the council.

The council said that it had discovered a large number of unregistered migrant workers in operations to identify undocumented migrant workers in the city.

The council has instructed employers to register all unregistered migrant workers with the council by noon on July 2.

Registration forms are available from the council office.

The council has also warned it will impose penalties against employers found to be employing undocumented or unregistered migrant workers in the city.

Parties which violate the instructions of the council are punishable by fines within the range of MVR 500 to MVR 5,000, depending on the seriousness of the violation, said the council.

Kulhudhuffushi council’s instruction to register migrant workers follows a similar move by the Addu city council last week.

Maldives has a population of close to 150,000 migrant workers, some 63,000 of whom are undocumented.

Most of the migrant workers in Maldives are Bangladeshis.

The Maldivian government has initiated a program to repatriate migrant workers. More than 3,200 Bangladeshi workers have been repatriated on board chartered flights operated by Maldivian Airlines, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and the Bangladeshi Air Force since April 21.

More than 2,500 of the workers who were repatriated were undocumented.