Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology has stopped issuing permits to bring in untrained Bangladeshi labourers after some companies submitted invalid documents.
Homeland ministry stated that the quota for untrained Bangladeshi workers has been suspended for a month now. It said that the quota was stopped after some companies were found to be bringing individuals with invalid documents. They also said that they were investigating the matter and would resume issuing quotas after the investigation. However, the ministry did not disclose further details.
The previous government stopped allowing untrained workers from Bangladesh in 2019. An amendment to the law set a maximum of 100,000 people from a single country to work as labourers in the Maldives in 2020. Since then, no further permits have been issued on the grounds that there are more than 100,000 Bangladeshi workers.
The government has confirmed the net number of Bangladeshi workers living both legally and illegally. Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan said there were a total of 90,624 Bangladeshi workers in the Maldives. In response to a question in Parliament in March, he said about 4,000 Bangladeshi workers had entered the country since the permits were issued.