Immigration conducting raids to identify illegal expat workers

Maldives Immigration has carried out raids in search of illegal expatriate workers in the Maldives.

Immigration said 66 illegal expatriate workers have been identified and taken into their custody under this operation which includes 65 Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian national.

The targets of the Immigration raids are expatriates’ work sites, accommodation blocks and major caterers.

The government resumed efforts to repatriate illegal expatriate workers in the Maldives back in June after the detention centre developed to hold illegal expatriate workers was completed and brought into use.

Immigration, last month, had questioned expatriates gathering in popular sports for expatriates in Male’ City and taken those identified to be living illegally in the Maldives into the custody of the authority.

The government, in a program carried out to address the issue of illegal expatriate workers in the Maldives, had documented 13,000 expatriate workers and repatriated 24,000 workers back to their native country. 

The program is a collaborative effort of Maldives Immigration, Economic Ministry and Foreign Ministry.