Malé, Maldives — The Economic Ministry has stated that the all documents presented to the Ministry must be in English when requesting for work permit.
A statement released by the Economic Ministry has stated that the documents presented with the work permit form such as certificates, educational or otherwise, will only be accepted if they are in English language.
Along with this, the Ministry has also stated that when the institution the documents were released from provides an English translated document, the Institution must also authenticate the document for it to be accepted by the Ministry.
While the Economic Ministry has been issuing work permits since February 15, the Ministry announced that the “Work permit health cover or insurance” required to issue the work permit will only be accepted by the Economic Ministry if the applicant has achieved “minimum requirement” from an insurance provider registered with the Ministry.
Expatriates are required to obtain a work permit and visa within 15 days of arrival. A fine plus a work permit fee of MVR 350 will be charged under the regulation if the documents are not obtained within the demanded time. Visas under the new regulation are to be issued in three categories;
- Professional and Managerial category: The category is for individuals working in a post that requires an MQA accredited Level 7 certificate.
- Non-Professional category: The category is for individuals with an education background of secondary level to MQA accredited Level 6 certificate holders. Individuals with sufficient work experience equivalent to the education specifications mentioned above are also eligible while individuals applying for work requiring little to almost no skills are also eligible. Individuals who can read manuals and requires a basic skill set with work experience are also eligible for the category.
- Domestic category: Individuals working in households.
The new regulation has been enforced since February 15. The regulation is a part of the government’s efforts to control the issue of undocumented expatriates living in large numbers in the nation. The government is also conducting repatriation operations for expatriate individuals wishing to return home as well.
