Migrant workers tally to match with fingerprints, Ihsan assures
Ihsan said that while there were loopholes in the calculations, the country's border control system clearly shows the number of foreigners.
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Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
Homeland security minister Ali Ihsan said on Monday that one of the goals of the operation to find undocumented migrant workers was to collect enough information within a year to get the actual number of foreigners in the Maldives.
Immigration, which is under the homeland security ministry, launched a special operation on the 7th of this month. With that:
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On Tuesday, the government reviewed the decision taken by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government to stop bringing unskilled labourers from Bangladesh to Maldives
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Some, including former economic minister Fayyaz Ismail, who previously regulated the affairs of migrant workers, have expressed concern over the decision, saying it is illegal
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Concern was expressed because a report by the ministry showed that about 139,000 Bangladeshi workers in Maldives have active work permits. According to the Employment Act, a maximum of 100,000 people can be brought in from one country
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Ihsan said on Monday that there are 90,624 Bangladeshi workers in Maldives according to the Immigration Border Control System. An active work permit is the number of permits issued, which includes visas that have not been canceled or people who have left
Ihsan held a press conference on Monday to address these concerns.
The total number of expatriates in Maldives is still unclear, Ihsan said.
"Some of the people [with active visas] are abroad [or] not in Maldives. So, we have now done special work since we took over the office to exactly match this number," Ihsan told a press conference that was held impromptu at 10:30 pm on Monday evening.
"Doing these works across the country, we have targeted to clarify the number of foreigners in the country and who they are and match the numbers in our expat system within the next one year”.
The target has now been set, the minister said. He said on Monday:
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Among Bangladeshi workers on active visas, 36% paid visa fees last year; that is 69,610 people
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35% pay visa fees reguarly by deadlines; that is 50,119 Bangladeshi workers
"The question is, why are the rest of the people not paying [the money]? Some of them are people who were abroad at this time [or] are not in Maldives," Ihsan said.
Ihsan said that while there were loopholes in the calculations, the country's border control system clearly shows the number of foreigners. He expressly assured the people on it. He reiterated that the government's decision was not illegal.
The economic ministry's report on the number of foreigners released on 17th last month and the post on X have been deleted. When asked about it at the press conference, Ihsan said:
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No reports are lost; the report was found on the website of the economic ministry due to the change in the mandate of the ministry, so it will be published under the homeland security ministry’s website
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He also said he will make the previous government report available on the Home Ministry website as it was
"The reason for this is that we have to be answerable for the information written on the website, and now that all the employees and those who know the technical know-how are under the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology, we have changed it," Ihsan said in response to a question on the report's deletion.
According to the government's decision on expatriates on Tuesday, unskilled labourers can only be brought from Bangladesh. Foreigners from other countries have been temporarily banned.
Before opening the press conference for questions, Ihsan said he would try to bring in unskilled labourers from other countries.
"With the rest of the countries, after looking at requirements and once we are done with what we need to look into, we will be open to unskilled labour if that country is also open to it," Ihsan said at his first press conference since taking office.
Ihsan said the reasons for bringing in workers only from Bangladesh were:
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The biggest concern raised by many businessmen and start-ups during the presidential campaign was the lack of Bangladeshi labour
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On the day he was sworn in as minister, President Mohammed Muizzu instructed him to find a solution to the problem. From that moment on, it was clear that there was no legal obstacle to this
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The decision was made in accordance with the law after considering the facts
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