Rescinding expat missing reports subject to MVR 10,000 fee

The Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology has decided to levy a fee of MVR 10,000 for rescinded missing expat reports.

The ministry announced on Thursday, publicized on the government gazette, the fee is introduced under the Expatriate Employment Regulation. The regulation, publicized in May last year, said the missing request rescinding fee will be implemented on a date set out by the Ministry of Homeland Security.

In the announcement on Thursday, the ministry said it would begin levying the fees related to the procedural policies on missing expatriates effective from Sunday next week.

Employers are required to submit missing expatriate requests via the expat system in case a migrant worker goes missing from their registered worksites, which is subject to a fee of MVR 1,000 from Sunday next week onward.

If a migrant worker flees their place of work owing to negligence on the part of the employer, would be subjected to a fine of MVR 2,000 on the employer.

The ministry also said it would extend opportunity for employers to rescind their missing expat reports from Sunday onwards, within a 30-day duration. Any request that is not rescinded within the set period will be subject to a fee of MVR 10,000 on the employer.

All missing expat reports, from Sunday onward, will be given a seven-month duration for revocation, but will be subject to a fee of MVR 10,000.

The ministry further said that information regarding locating missing migrant workers will be made available on the expat system from next week onward, with information on it also available via the oneGov hotline 1500.

With a large population of illegal immigrants still in the Maldives, the ministry has been strengthening its efforts on curbing the said population – which includes the nationwide ‘Operation Kurangi’ aimed at collecting biometric data of migrant workers to identify registered ones from unregistered workers.

The current administration has envisioned bringing a comprehensive solution to illegal immigration within the three years.