The home ministry of Maldives has halted the recruitment of unskilled labourers from Bangladesh in light of illegal recruitments.
The ministry’s Spokesperson Fathimath Rifaath said recruitment of unskilled labourers from Bangladesh was halted one month ago after observing some companies recruit labourers after submitting fake documents, adding that an investigation has been launched into the matter. Illegal migrants remain a long-prevailing issue in the Maldives. Home Ministry recently launched a special operation under the name ‘Kurangi’, as part of efforts to resolve the issue.
Biometrics from over 700 migrants have been collected as part of these efforts.
Maldives imposed a ban on the recruitment of unskilled labourers from Bangladesh in September 2019, during the former administration - this administration was lifted by the current administration in December of last year.
In a press conference in December, Home Minister Ali Ihusan said 1,39,220 active work permits exist for Bangladeshi labourers, adding that work permit fees are being regularly paid to only 39,004 per cent of them.
As of December, there were 90,642 labourers from Bangladesh residing in the Maldives, which is lower than the cap of 1,00,000 set forth in the Employment Act, for a single source market.
