Recruitment of laborers from Bangladesh to Maldives has been stopped again due to illegal recruitment. On Tuesday (21 May), the spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Maldives, Fatimath Rifath, confirmed this matter. Quoting the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs, local media reported that the recruitment of unskilled workers from Bangladesh has been stopped due to illegal recruitment.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday (May 21), the spokesperson of the ministry, Fatimath Rifath, told the local media that the recruitment of unskilled workers from Bangladesh was stopped a month ago after finding that some companies in the Maldives were hiring workers by submitting fake documents. An investigation has been started on that matter.
The island nation has a long-standing problem of illegal immigrants. As part of efforts to address the problem, the Ministry of Home Affairs has recently launched a special campaign called ‘Kurangi’. Biometrics of more than 700 migrants have been collected as part of this effort.
Notably, Maldives imposed a ban on the recruitment of unskilled labor from Bangladesh in September 2019, during the administration of former Maldivian President Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Salih. Last year, the administration of the new President Mohammad Doctor Mohammad Muizzur lifted the ban of the current previous government in December last year.
In a press conference in December, Home Minister Ali Ihusan said that out of 1,39,220 work permits already in place for Bangladeshi workers, only 39,004 of them are valid by paying the work permit fee regularly.
A local media report showed 90,642 workers from Bangladesh were already in the Maldives as of December last year, less than the quota of 100,000 per country set by the Maldives’ employment law.
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