The Maldives’ Ministry of Economic Development on Thursday extended the ban on bringing Bangladeshi labourers to Maldives for a period of one year, just as the restriction's September 18 deadline draws close, reports The Edition.
Maldivian Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail, in 2019, affixed a quota of 150,000 individuals as migrants per country, to be able to reside in the Maldives at any given time.
Since Bangladeshi immigrants already exceed this quota, at the present time, workers can only be brought from countries other than Bangladesh, says the report.
The restrictions, however, do not apply to professional-level employees.
Maldives Immigration revealed that 63,000 immigrants out of the 144,607 that entered the Maldives under work visas are currently residing illegally.
Maldivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed this Monday that the number of undocumented Bangladeshi citizens repatriated till date has now reached 5,049.
Authorities estimated earlier that approximately 20,000 workers will be sent back to their home countries by the end of 2020.
