Bangladeshi workers allowed after expat issue resolved, Ihsan says

Home Minister Ali Ihsan said on Tuesday that bringing in more Bangladeshi workers will be opened to the public only after the current illegal immigrant issues in Maldives are completely resolved.

Ihsan said this at a meeting with expatriate employers in Iskandhar barracks on Tuesday. The ministry is working to resolve the issue in phases and the issue will be fully resolved within the next three years, he said.

Bangladesh is the biggest market for foreign workers in the country, and as the government has now closed that door, it is likely to lead to a lack of workers in the labour market at the moment, Ihsan said.

However, the bringing in of foreign workers has been withheld for the time being to resolve the issues of the existing expatriate workforce in Maldives, he said. If the border is opened without resolving the problems, the problems will widen again, he said.

Ihsan said efforts are on to find ways to bring illegal migrants under the ambit of the rules and once that is done, the border will be opened.

“Once the paths are clear and work begins, we will open the borders,” Ihsan said.

Ihsan said the starting point of the illegal immigrant case is the Maldivian businessman who brings the foreigner to Maldives illegally. After bringing in foreign workers, the Maldivian charges large sums of money from them and flushes them into the society bereft of even their legal documents.

As a result, the foreigner is forced to choose illegal routes to compensate or earn back the huge amount of money he lost. Therefore, the top priority in solving the problem of foreigners is to solve the existing and surfaced issues first and that requires the cooperation of the people who bring in the foreigners, he said.