The Maldives suspends work visas for Bangladeshis

The Maldives has stopped issuing new work visas to Bangladeshi workers, just months after reopening the labour market following a four-year-long ban.

Although the Bangladesh High Commission in Malé stated that the closure was in line with Maldives' position on allocating specific quotas for a source country, a Maldivian media report suggests that the decision was made in response to allegations of illegal recruitment practices.

Speaking to this newspaper, an official from the Bangladesh mission also mentioned that in recent times there have been unethical recruitment practices involving Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Maldives.

The official, preferring to remain unnamed, said that although it is required for a migrant worker to work for the company that hired them, there have been cases where Bangladeshi workers found other jobs, for instance, when they were not given the job they were promised.

According to the official, the Maldives reopened the market for Bangladeshi workers in December 2023, four years after the ban in 2019. Since the reopening of the labour market, the Bangladesh mission has certified paperwork for the hiring of more than 6,000 employees.

The mission, in a notice on Wednesday, said that as per Maldives' existing law, 100,000 workers from a single source country can work there.

Efforts from the mission are on to get an extension in the quota ceiling and relaunch of visa issuance, as per the notice.

Meanwhile, a good number of unskilled Bangladeshi migrant workers have been deported from Maldives following their arrests over the "free visa" issue, said the mission in the notice.

There's no such thing as a "free visa" and a worker must work for the company he or she is entitled to as per visa, it said.

Violation of such law may result in legal action, arrest at any time, and subsequent deportation, it added.

In a report on Tuesday, Maldivian news portal SunOnline International said the Maldives Home Ministry states the recruitment of unskilled workers from Bangladesh has been halted in light of illegal recruitments.

Home Ministry spokesperson Fathimath Rifaath said recruitment of unskilled workers from Bangladesh was halted a month ago after observing some companies recruit workers after submitting fake documents and that an investigation has been launched into the matter, the report says.

According to the report, as of December, there were 90,642 workers from Bangladesh residing in the Maldives, which is lower than the cap of 100,000 outlined in the Employment Act for a single source market.