Immigration: Migrant workers required to pay fee for renewal of work visa

Migrant workers are required to pay a MVR 6,000 fee for renewal of work visa, says Maldives Immigration.

Immigration made the announcement in a statement this Monday morning after retracting the amendment to the Regulation on Work Visa for Migrant Workers in Maldives published on the Government Gazette, which had annulled the need to pay a fee for renewal of work visa.

The agency reports it retracted the amendment due to changes in its mandate – including transfer of some of its mandated work to Ministry of Economic Development.

It said the recent changes to Immigration’s mandated and the amendment to the Regulation on Work Visa for Migrant Workers in Maldives conflicted with each other, and that the agency had therefore decided to repeal the amendment.

Immigration said that migrant workers were therefore required to pay their work visa fees as per previous protocol.

Regulation on Work Visa for Migrant Workers in Maldives empowers the Controller General of Immigration with the authority to grant renewal of work visa to legal migrant workers, and establishes a fee of MVR 6,000 for renewal of work visa.

Work permits are currently issued by Ministry of Economic Development, and not Maldives Immigration.