Ambassador of the Maldives to European Union and United Kingdom Ahmed Shiaan has said that efforts are underway to allow locals to obtain visa for United Kingdom from the Maldives. Currently Maldivians have to travel to United Kingdom's embassy in Sri Lanka to obtain visa to travel to UK.
Speaking to PSM News, Ambassador Shiaan stated that there are a large number of Maldivians studying in the UK. Thus the Embassy in UK is working to make easy arrangements for Maldivians to obtain Visa to travel to UK without travelling to Colombo. Ambassador Shiaan said they are in discussion with the UK government to make the arrangement to allow Maldivians to attain Visa from Maldives. He expressed confidence easy arrangements for Maldivians seeking UK visa will be made in the near future.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been making special arrangement to ease difficulties faced by locals to obtain UK Visa. As part of this effort, the Ministry invites officials from the UK Embassy in Colombo to Maldives during August every year to process Visa applications.