Immigration Detains 341 Foreign Nationals for Attempting Entry Into Maldives via Forged Documents

Immigration officers have detained 341 foreign nationals trying to enter the Maldives with forged work visas and work permits in the past eight months, the agency has revealed.

Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Mohamed Shifan said at a press conference on Wednesday that some foreign nationals had attempted to enter the Maldives on tourist visas with the intention of engaging in work.

Statistics on illegal immigrants detained by Immigration were also shared with the public, detailing that;

• 1,664 foreign nationals were stopped while trying to enter the Maldives under invalid documentation of which 1,289, from 85 countries, had tried to enter on tourist visas
• 341, from 22 countries, were stopped from entering for presenting invalid work permits or work visas
• 33 were detained for trying to enter using forged documents with one detained for trying to enter under false pretences

According to Shifan, while most efforts to enter on tourist visa were made by Bangladeshi nationals, multiple efforts are being made to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the Maldives on tourist visas with the intention to engage in work.

According to Immigration, those who attempted to enter the Maldives on tourist visas include;

“Tourist visas are issued [on arrival] to everyone who comes to the Maldives. As such they try to enter the Maldives on tourist visas and work. These are the people we stopped at the border,” Shifan said.

Around 341 foreign nationals, from 22 countries, have been stopped while trying to enter with forged work visas, he said. They include;

Shifan shared specifics of three cases involving foreign nationals.

Four Bangladeshi nationals, who arrived on Vistara Airlines on 3 March, tried to enter the country with forged Greek exit stamps, he said.

“We suspect that these people are trying to enter the Maldives and go on to another European country. If they enter the Maldives and get a Maldivian entry stamp, it is easier to enter another country. So they are using the Maldives as a transit destination,” he said.

The second case was of a foreign national who had committed crimes while married to a Maldivian.

“A Bangladeshi man named Arif Kamadhari. From 2019 until his deportation, he smuggled 23 women into prostitution, our investigations, conducted in collaboration with the police, uncovered,” Shifan said, going on to reveal Kamadhari had now been deported — other foreign nationals involved in the case were also arrested and deported.

Additionally, eight foreigners had been arrested in the past eight months and six of them have been deported, he said.