The Department of Immigration and Emigration will start issuing electronic passports from July 26 onwards, the Department announced today. Speaking to local media at a press conference held at Nasandhura Palace Hotel, Mr. Ibrahim Shafiu, Controller of Immigration and Emigration said that the new generation of Maldivian passports will follow a completely new design with enhanced security features. The new passport is being introduced in an effort to curb passport forgery and identity fraud, and to protect and enhance the benefits currently being enjoyed by Maldivian passport holders in relation to visa requirements. The Department also has plans to install electronic gates, or egates, at Male’ International Airport in the near future.
The Controller said that the current generation of passports can still be used until their expiry, and that it is not compulsory for anyone to switch to the new passport. The first Maldivian epassport will be issued to the President of the Republic of Maldives, His Excellency Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom at a ceremony to be held on the Independence Day of Maldives, July 26. The new passport will be printed by Austrian State Printing House, Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei, with IRIS Corporation of Malaysia supplying the inlays for the microchip that will be embedded on the back cover of all electronic passports. A 32-page Ordinary passport will cost Rf350, while a 64-page Ordinary passport will cost Rf600. A 32-page non-electronic Ordinary passport will cost Rf250. Maldives is the first South Asian country to issue ICAO compliant epassports.
