Govt removes baby sitters from expat worker quota phase-out list

The government has amended the rules governing the employment of expatriate workers in the Maldives, removing baby sitters from the list of occupations for which foreign worker quotas will be phased out after a specified period.

The Ministry of Homeland Security gazetted the revised regulations on Monday and re-gazetted them on Wednesday.

Under the version gazetted earlier this week, baby sitters were included among occupations for which foreign worker quotas would be cancelled two years after the rules came into force. Following public discussion, the ministry has now removed baby sitters from that list.

After the initial gazetting, members of the public raised concerns on social media, citing the current demand for child care services in the Maldives and the potential impact of restricting access to expatriate baby sitters.

According to the updated rules, the following occupations will no longer be allocated foreign worker quotas once the regulations come into force:

The rules state that the Ministry of Homeland Security retains the authority to revise the list of occupations based on the availability of Dhivehi workers in the labour market.

Under the regulations, quotas for certain occupations will be cancelled two years after the rules take effect. These include:

Quotas for the following occupations will be cancelled three years after the rules come into force:

Quotas for the following occupations will be cancelled four years after the rules come into force:

Quotas for the following occupations will be cancelled five years after the rules come into force:

The revised rules are scheduled to come into force on Monday.