13 expatriates who were residing illegally in the Maldives without valid visas have been arrested.

The Maldives Immigration revealed that a raid was conducted on November 6 to seek out illegal migrants residing in the Maldives. As part of the raid, two locations in the capital Malé City where foreigners were residing were raided.

From the locations, 13 foreigners who were residing illegally without valid visas were taken into Immigration custody.

Maldives Immigration, jointly with the Maldives Police Service (MPS) and other relevant authorities, have been working to seek out and take the required action against illegal migrants residing in the Maldives and engaging in illegal businesses in the Maldives.

Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamaan Waheed said that the operation will be expanded across outlying atolls as well. This is being done following complaints from the public about an increase in illegal expatriates in several islands after operations to inspect illegal expatriates in the congested capital, Malé Region began.

The operation aims to identify expatriates who are overstaying their permitted duration and those operating small and medium-sized businesses illegally. Authorities will take action against these individuals under the Immigration Act.

The department has highlighted that several efforts are being made to bring illegal immigrants residing in the Maldives into compliance with regulations. They have noted that the special operation is one of the most important steps taken to address the issue.

So far, 4,428 illegal migrants have been deported from the Maldives.

In addition to the operation conducted in the capital city to resolve the issue of foreigners, efforts are also being made to gather information about foreigners living on other inhabited islands, resorts, industrial islands, and islands leased for agriculture.