Immigration deports 817 illegal expats

Maldives Immigration on Wednesday said the authority has deported 817 expatriates residing illegally.

Immigration in its statement said a special taskforce has been formed by the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology for a fresh impetus on repatriating illegal immigrants under the vision of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

Immigration also confirms conducting 22 operations to find illegally residing expatriates, with another 15 joint operations with Maldives Police Service.

The Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamman Waheed said on Tuesday, during the press conference organized the Homeland Ministry, 817 expatriates have been repatriated back to their home countries.

According to Shamman, the total deported expats include 527 repatriated under the re-integration operation and another 290 expats were deported. He underscored the significant achievement of local authorities in the past three months.

The deported include expatriates residing without valid visas and those with criminal offenses, which include individuals involved prostitution.

Immigration announced it will conduct similar operations to find more illegal expats in the future as well.