The government has decided to identify the number of undocumented foreigners in the Maldives and allow them to join a regularization program.
Speaking in the public forum Ahaa (Ask), Home Minister Ali Ihusan said the nationwide program to collect information on foreign labourers will begin on May 2.
The minister said the government does not know the exact number of unskilled foreign labourers in Maldives.
"The work we are doing now is to complete this within one year from now. We have already started the work and some of the work is complete. We are working to identify all foreign workers in Maldives, especially those in the unskilled labour category and record their fingerprints and photos and match our work permit records," Ihusan said.
The minister said the process would be completed within a year and their locations would also be identified.
“On May 2, we are starting the practical work of the project in Kaafu Himmafushi. We will launch this in all the islands within a month or so," he said.
The work will be done in collaboration with the island councils and the police and information about foreign workers with valid documents will also be collected, he added.
Ihusaid said it is legally difficult to hand over a foreigner brought in one person's name to another and the government will try to make it easier.
"In some cases, he [the foreigner] has to be sent abroad and brought back. So we intend to make this process much easier," he said.
Making the process easier and regularizing foreigners is the second step in the project, according to the minister.
