It has been three months since the Department of Immigration and Emigration stopped issuing student and dependent visas to Indian nationals.

A source from within the department told RaajjeMV that their office stopped issuing said visas after they suspended the process to fix an issue with their systems.

Indian nationals currently resident in the Maldives have not had their visas extended or renewed, but have been given a temporary permit which has to be renewed every three months.

The department’s media official is reportedly not in the country, while the Immigration Controller himself had not answered calls at the time of publishing.

Maldives and India signed an agreement on visa systems less than a decade after having established diplomatic ties, which guarantees that citizens travelling between countries receive a visa without a fee.

However, RaajjeMV understands that Indian nationals have been charged a fee for their visas since 2015, while India maintains its end of the agreement.

Indian officials had reportedly expressed concern about said issues with attaining visas from the Maldives for their citizens at discussion held in October as well.I