Bangladeshi workers make up about 20% of Maldives’ population, but can they stay?
Many of these workers are migrants with valid work permits. However, many others have overstayed tourist visas or left their sponsor companies to work elsewhere, rendering their residence illegal
Bangladeshi workers are virtually everywhere, and it is normal for a tourist to encounter one occasionally. But many would say Maldives is special in this case. It is actually harder for a Bangladeshi tourist not to meet a Bangladeshi worker in Maldives.
From grocery shops to water sports outlets, from bus stops to hotels, in the middle of a conversation, someone will stop you and ask, where are you from? As you reply, "Bangladesh," he will say, "Let's speak in Bangla then!"
In fact, among around five lakh people inhabiting the Island state, more than one lakh are Bangladeshis, making them about 20% of the population.
Many of these workers are legal migrants, having work permits. However, many have expired tourist visas, making them undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers in the country. Also, those with work permits attached to one company fleeing and working for another company are in trouble because this course of action invalidates their work permit.
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Irrespective of their conditions, many of these migrants have done well, speak the local language like the locals, and even own businesses.
But since the authorities have started cracking down on illegal migrants in recent years, these Bangladeshis are facing uncertainty.
For migrant workers, doing business is also illegal, so they are now selling their businesses to locals and opting to work as employees instead. Others face fines, jail terms and deportation. However, officials are hopeful this can be fixed.
Compliance with local immigration laws makes a huge difference
Abu Hamza (not his real name), a 38-year-old Bangladeshi, works as a water sports guide on Maafushi Island in the Maldives. He takes the tourists to the sea, teaches them how to snorkel and takes their photos and videos with sharks and stingrays. In the evening, he takes another batch of tourists to night fishing. On return from the activity, Hamza sends the images and videos to the clients online.
Hamza has been doing this for six years. His younger son is six, and Hamza is yet to meet him.
He came to the Island state in 2019 with a work permit, but switched to another company without getting proper approval, rendering his permit invalid. As a result, his stay in the country became illegal, barring him from visiting his family back home.
Hamza says he does not want to live in Maldives any longer. But the problem is his visa has expired.
Mahin, another Bangladeshi, is involved in a more intriguing debacle. He owned a fast-food shop near the ferry terminal on Hulhumale Island, but he was not legally allowed to own a shop in this market. As the authorities started deporting illegal migrants, locals started grilling Mahin about the ownership of the shop.
At one point, Mahin sold the shop to a local Maldivian and started working as an employee at another shop to evade arrest and deportation. "Now if someone comes to ask about the shop, I get scared," Mahin said. The young man migrated to Maldives in 2014.
But Akash Ahmed's story is different. He works as a manager at an adventure tour company at Maafushi Island. Akash first came to Maldives in 2017 and worked here illegally for four years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when the government opened a window for undocumented migrants, he moved back to Bangladesh, where he stayed for two years.
Thereafter, Akash moved to Dubai. But Akash's Maldivian employer wanted him back, so he arranged a tour for the Bangladeshi against a tourist visa, planning to manage a work permit for him during his stay. As he failed to do so despite sincere attempts, Akash returned to Bangladesh.
Just a month later, in December 2023, Akash went back to Maldives to work for the same employer as the Maldives government started reissuing work visas. Contrary to Hamza and Mahin, he can visit his family back home at a regular interval.
"The companies that filed missing reports against workers have to withdraw the report and take back the worker. If they do not want to do so, the workers can complain to the local Labour Relation Authority and explain why they fled their company. After investigation, if the explanation holds water, the agency will issue a letter in favour of the worker, based on which he can get a work permit with another company."
We met another Bangladeshi, Sujan, in the capital city Male, where he works as a security guard. Sujan said he gets one month's paid leave every two years when he can visit his family back home.
"Switching the company without approval is a bad idea. When someone does that, the original employer files a 'missing' report with the authorities. These people face trouble legalising their stay," Akash explained.
"Staying illegally leaves them in constant fear of deportation, and deprives them of family visits. We had a worker who returned to Bangladesh after 12 years," he added.
Maldivian authorities are very strict about undocumented migrants nowadays, he mentioned. "I know a person who hid underwater to evade arrest, but police caught him from there.
"A tourist is allowed to stay for three months here. After that, they will be fined $100 for each day of extra stay. So working here with a tourist visa is dangerous. If the fine is not paid, they will land in jail," Akash further said.
He added that 80% of the workers have legal status now, thanks to an opportunity given after Covid-19, but most of them have switched companies, which is problematic. He mentioned that airport authorities now bar entry of some tourists from Bangladesh if they suspect he is here for work.
The country allows 1 lakh people from one country. Bangladesh has fulfilled this quota. Apart from Bangladesh, people from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Nepal also work in the country in large numbers. Bangladeshis outnumber them by a large margin.
Getting work in Maldives has become difficult, according to expatriates. Illegal workers have made the situation worse.
"There are many who work in exchange for just food and accommodation. This is leading to significantly lowered wages. When we deserve 12,000-14,000 MVR (Maldivian currency), we have to work for 5,000 MVR," complained Hamza, who himself switched companies without authorisation.
Workers from other countries also work for less, according to expatriates.
Still, there is a way
Recently, Bangladesh's High Commission in Maldives asked undocumented workers to get valid work permits from their current employers without any delay.
But is it possible?
Md Sohel Parvez, Counsellor (labour) at the Bangladesh High Commission in Maldives, said there are two ways.
"The companies that filed missing reports against workers have to withdraw the report and take back the worker. If they do not want to do so, the workers can complain to the local Labour Relation Authority and explain why they fled their company. After investigation, if the explanation holds water, the agency will issue a letter in favour of the worker, based on which he can get a work permit with another company," he explained.
As to how many unregistered workers there are in Maldives, Sohel Parvez said 43,000 undocumented workers registered in 2019, and the High Commission estimates that there could be 10,000 to 15,000 undocumented workers at present.
He added that there are an estimated one lakh documented workers in the country.
Sohel too acknowledged that switching employers is a big problem for Bangladeshi migrants in Maldives. "Maldives immigration authorities are discouraging workers to switch companies and work on free visas. They are not allowing anyone to do business either," Sohel Parvez added.
"Maldives is not issuing work visas as the quota of one lakh visas per country has been fulfilled for Bangladesh. We have requested them to issue more visas, and are hoping that the country will do so," he said.
Meanwhile, the Maldivian envoy in Dhaka said on 17 September 2024 that the Maldives will soon initiate the regularisation process for the undocumented Bangladeshi expatriates living in the country. Maldives High Commissioner to Bangladesh Shiuneen Rasheed made this remark while paying a courtesy call to Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain.
During the meeting, the envoy appreciated the contributions of Bangladeshi migrant workers to the socio-economic development of Maldives.
