Controller General of Maldives Immigration Mohamed Ahmed Hussain briefed the media for the first time today, since his appointment by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on 23rd December 2018. 

The prime focus of the briefing was to state the current situation of the organization and his plans to overcome the challenges and strengthen Immigration enforcement to gain public confidence in the institution. 

The Controller General also stressed about his plans to strengthen Immigration enforcement and enhance services of Immigration. The addressed plans were of the following;

• Enhance passport services by introducing passport applications services via email

• Decentralize and expand passport services to all the Atoll Councils within the next two years

• Enhance passport services by introducing an online platform before the end of 2019

• Enhance passport post application services by enabling partner agencies to feed data directly to Passport System

• Enhance Business Visa process efficiency to 48hrs 

• Expansion of Business Visa services to Addu City on 1st of February 2019

• Ease public communication by establishing a call center for public enquiries on 25th February 2019

• Strengthen Immigration enforcement by reviewing and amending Immigration Law 

• Improve transparency by publishing data on Immigration services starting from 24th January 2019 onwards 

• Raise public awareness and introduce a complain mechanism by establish a dedicated email: [email protected]

• Conduct special enforcement operation, the ‘Operation Stingray’, focusing to tackle undocumented expatriate issues

Controller General of Immigration concluded the media briefing by urging the public for their support and cooperation on resolving matters related to Maldives Immigration.