JAKARTA - Maldives will introduce a digital system to identify and register foreigners when they board or leave vessels at points across the domestic transport network, Minister of Homeland Security, Labour and Technology Ali Ihusaan told PSM News’ Raajje Miadhu programme.
The system is planned for after the completion of the Maldives 2.0 digitisation programme. In that May 16 report, Maldives’ state-owned agency said that it would record foreigners at each point of embarkation and disembarkation, giving authorities a passenger record when boats move between islands.
“Sometimes people go missing on boat trips. There have been tragic incidents. If such incidents occur, the people who boarded the boat will be known with this system,” Ihusaan said, according to PSM News.
The plan is not limited to maritime safety. Ihusaan said authorities are also working to deport undocumented immigrants and improve legal channels for foreign workers entering the Maldives. He said the government is developing a “white list” of employers with clean regulatory records and a history of paying required fees, with faster approvals through the digitised system.
The vessel-travel registry would sit inside the government’s Maldives 2.0 programme. President Mohamed Muizzu’s office said in a February 5 presidential address that Maldives 2.0 was launched on May 21, 2025, with a three-year plan to introduce internationally compliant digital identities and establish a Maldives Data Exchange between authorities.
The foreign-worker control work is already under way through Operation Kurangi. In the same presidential address, Muizzu said the second phase had begun on January 1 for foreigners who had provided biometrics but still lacked legal status, with 3,837 applications received by February 5. He said a third phase was scheduled to begin on May 3, involving the Maldives Police Service, local councils and the Department of Immigration.
A separate PSM News report also said the Ministry of Homeland Security, Labour and Technology had counted 208,937 migrant workers with valid work permits in the Maldives. The same report said Operation Kurangi is being used to verify foreign workers’ identities and documentation through biometric registration.