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Tuesday 24 Sep 2024
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Migrant workers at a construction site in Male'. (Sun Photo/Mohamed Hayyan)
Outstanding fees and penalties for permits issued to expatriate workers total over MVR 253 million, according to statistics released by the Homeland Security Ministry on Tuesday.
The statistics show that 7,501 employers have been suspended from the Xpat system over failure to make payments, while 3,692 employers have requested to settle the payments in installments over a one-year period.
According to the Homeland Security Ministry, overdue fees and penalties for work permits, quotas and cancellations now total a staggering MVR 235,545,982. This includes:
Homeland Security Ministry is working on recovering the outstanding payments due for expatriate workers. However, Homeland Security Minister Ali Ihusan previously said the government does not plan on raising any of the fees.
The Homeland Security Ministry has expressed concern over the lack of enforcement action taken in the past to recollect outstanding payments. I also said it acknowledges that employers will have difficulty clearing all outstanding fees and penalties at once, and advised them to apply for settlement plans with the government via the Xpat system.
Maldives currently charges MVR 350 for work permits and MVR 2,000 per annum as quota fee.
The Homeland Security Ministry has also directed the formation of a special taskforce made up of Maldives Immigration Service and the police to crack down on illegal immigration.
Total 4,054 irregular expatriates have been deported between November 17 last year and September 17. This includes:
The Homeland Security Ministry aims to provide a permanent solution to the longstanding issue of illegal immigration within three years. It has also launched ‘Operation Kurangi”, aimed at collecting the biometric data of all expatriate workers in the country.
