Pres: Biometric data collected from 150,000 expat workers to date

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu announced that biometric data has been collected from 150,000 expatriate workers in the Maldives, marking a significant step toward implementing a permanent solution to safeguard the fundamental human rights of expatriate workers.

Home Ministry’s ‘Operation Kurangi’ - an initiative to collect the biometric data of migrant workers in the Maldives – was launched under instructions of the President on May 2^nd, 2024.

As the world commemorates Labor Day on Thursday, the President, via a post on X, said the day represented a new milestone in the successes achieved by his administration.  

In this regard, he announced that biometric data from 150,000 expatriate workers in the Maldives have been collected under ‘Operation Kurangi’ and subsequently, the database has been updated.

The biometric data collected under the operation includes 10 fingerprints and photos for facial recognition.

The President emphasized the importance of acknowledging expatriate workers – who make up the majority of the working population in the Maldives – as we celebrate Labor Day, whose basic human rights have been infringed due to their “illegal” status.

He added that the current administration is committed to permanently resolving this issue, highlighting that one of the most critical steps toward this goal is the collection of biometric data from all expatriate workers to enable easier identification.

According to the Home Ministry, the difficulties currently faced in recruiting expatriate workers will be resolved once Operation Kurangi is completed. The first phase of the operation aims to regularize all expatriate workers working in the Maldives.

According to the latest census, 132,371 out of some 500,000 Maldivian population accounts for expatriates. A large percentage of the country’s expatriate population is undocumented.