The Maldives has finished its shift to a fully digital foreign-worker visa process, and it comes with tighter timelines and a small but notable localization list.
- Implementation
- Work e-Visa now mandatory; 15-day employer filing window
- Country
- Maldives
- Applies to
- All foreign workers and their employers
- Status
- In force
The e-Visa is now the only valid document
The Work e-Visa issued through the government's Xpat portal is now the sole valid immigration document for foreign workers. Physical visa stickers placed in passports are no longer recognized. Before boarding a flight to the Maldives, workers need a valid Entry Pass issued by the Ministry of Homeland Security, and once they arrive, employers have a strict 15-day window to secure the Work e-Visa via Xpat.
A short list of jobs is now reserved for citizens
The government has stopped issuing new foreign-worker quotas for a specific set of roles it is reserving for Maldivian nationals: retail cashiers, taxi and rental-vehicle drivers, and aircraft co-pilots, first officers, and vessel captains.
New fee relief for small employers
On the cost side, new 2026 quota-fee waivers have been introduced for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), lowering the barrier for smaller employers to sponsor foreign staff.
- Work e-Visa on the Xpat portal is the only valid document — physical stickers no longer count
- A valid Entry Pass from the Ministry of Homeland Security is required before travel
- Employers have 15 days after arrival to secure the Work e-Visa
- New citizen-reserved roles: retail cashiers, taxi/rental-vehicle drivers, aircraft co-pilots/first officers, vessel captains
- New 2026 quota-fee waivers introduced for MSME employers
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Valid document | Work e-Visa via Xpat portal only — physical stickers no longer valid |
| Pre-travel requirement | Entry Pass from the Ministry of Homeland Security |
| Employer filing window | 15 days after arrival to secure the Work e-Visa |
| Citizen-reserved roles | Retail cashiers, taxi/rental-vehicle drivers, aircraft co-pilots/first officers, vessel captains |
Resort, hospitality, and construction and project roles — the categories Globaris places candidates into — are unaffected by the localization list. But the fully digital process means tighter timelines: incomplete paperwork can now stall a case within days rather than weeks, so document readiness before arrival is more critical than it used to be.
