Emergency issue regarding hidden prospects of residence visa rejected

The emergency issue submitted regarding the hidden prospects of the residence visa from the amendments proposed to the immigration laws has been dismissed from the parliament.

The proposed residence visa would grant foreigners residence visa if they rent or lease a residence in the Maldives for a period of more than 10 years. The issue was submitted by Nolhivaram MP Mohamed Nasheed Abdulla.

The issue reads that the true purpose of the amendment was to provide permanent residence to some 25,000 foreign nationals of a powerful neighboring nation in the Maldives. The MP said that he had been informed of this by people with good knowledge on the matter, and wished to bring it to the attention of the parliament.

The whole process is arranged in a manner that would grant the foreigners citizenship in the Maldives eventually, which would in turn disseminate the unity of the country, read the issue submitted by MP Nasheed.

“Advocation of permitting their religious teachings in schools for their children, permitting the practice of their religion with the construction of churches alongside freedom of religion, is planned. This is all being arranged in the name of human rights.” Said Nasheed.

The statements by the Speaker of the parliament regarding undocumented expatriates were another factor that supported this assertion, said MP Nasheed. The Speaker had said that the matter of undocumented expatriates is to be resolved by providing them citizenship, according to MP Nasheed.

The issue also read that the granting of citizenship to 25,000 people would allow other countries to influence, interfere, and affect elections in the Maldives. With that number, only a small number of local votes would be required to win an election. MP Nasheed said that the country was in a dangerous state of affairs right now. 

He also said that the possibility of foreign spy agencies operating in the North, South and Central regions of the Maldives was very real. The embassies of these countries spend heavily on media of the country, which in turn refrained from writing anything negative on that country, said MP Nasheed who said that he had received information on the matter as well.

However, the issue was rejected by the parliament when requested for a vote. From the 41 MPs that voted on the matter, 16 voted to accept it, while voted against. A total of 18 votes were required to accept the issue for debate.

Granting a residence visa to expatriates making a ‘significant’ investment to the Maldives or leasing a residence in the Maldives for a period longer than ten years or marrying a Maldivian was proposed by Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, after the proposed amendments to the immigration laws were forwarded by the Parliamentary Committee. Nasheed sent the amendments back to the Committee again along with the proposed amendments regarding the residence visa mentioned above. 

The amendment had garnered stern criticism from members of the public who oppose such a move and even some MPs of MDP have spoken out about it.