Home Minister Ali Ihusan has announced plans to have expatriates on work visa require a separate permit from any island they work in.

The Home Ministry had launched ‘Operation Kurangi’ last month - a special operation aimed at curtailing illegal migration. The operation launched at K. Himmafushi on May 2, and expanded to K. Maafushi on June 13.

The first phase of the operation seeks to collect the biometric data of all migrant workers in the Maldives.

Referring to the Councils Act, which requires local councils to maintain a registry of expatriates working in each residential island, Ihusan told Public Service Media (PSM) on Monday that a registry is impossible to maintain, unless there is a system in place to identify expatriates who enter islands.

Ihusan said the government is making arrangements so that expatriates with a permit to work in the Maldives an additional permit from islands they wish to work in.

He added that once the biometric data of expatriates are collected, councils will be given access to the system the data is pooled to.

“They can manage the registry then. Therefore, this can only be done by setting a good mechanism, and empowering councils and law enforcement,” he said.

Ihusan added that the state previously had to spend heavily on expatiates who are set to be deported during the time they spend in detention custody because they lack the funds to purchase a ticket back to their home country.

“The ticket could cost MVR 8,300. But he will have just MVR 8,000 as the deposit. We need to spend MVR 30,000 monthly on him while in his custody as it remains unclear who needs to pay the additional MVR 300. Or we are forced to release him,” said Ihusan, explaining the previous situation.

Undocumented expatriate workers at the Galolhu National Stadium for appointments for Economic Ministry's regularization program on October 19, 2019. (File Photo/Sun/Ahmed Awshan Ilyas)

Ihusan previously said the state spends an average of MVR 27,000 per person on expatriates held in detention. He said the cost was too high, and not one the state wishes to bear.

Ihusan said that expatriates who are arrested are now released within 48 hours if they have valid papers.

But it still takes time to communicate with foreign embassies to process the release of expatriates who lack documentation.

Ihusan said the government is working on resolving the issue.

At a session of the ‘Ahaa’ public forum back in April, Ihusan said the issue of undocumented migrants will be resolved in three years.

He said that the collection of biometric data of migrants was just phase one of the operation, and will wrap up within one year.

He said that once the data on all migrants are collected and entered into a system, the government will then regularize all undocumented migrants.

Ihusan warned that those who fail to make use of the opportunity will be deported.

However, he stressed that the goal is not to arrest and deport migrants, but to give them a chance to get regularized.