A survey has been launched in Fuvahmulah in preparation to compile an expatriate registry.

Fuvahmulah city council commenced the survey on Thursday, kicking off with a demonstration by the Mayor of Fuvahmulah City, Abdulla Falah Shareef of a custom-made mobile application designed especially for the survey.

According to the council, the survey is set to cover the entire island with a total of 18 enumerators.

Furthermore, the council revealed that work on issuing appointments for expatriates, as part of the regularisation program by the Ministry of Economic Development, is scheduled to begin next week.

Fuvahmulah is estimated to have a total population of over 8000, including an expatriate population of around 1000.

The survey comes at a time where the Ministry of Economic Development has "regularised" 3938 expatriate workers, most of whom belong to the construction industry.