VisaEmployers in the Maldives must obtain work e-Visas within 15 days of workers’ arrival
Current-rule guide to the digital work-visa deadline, employer permit payments and older passport-stamping instructions that remain online.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
Last verified against linked sources:
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Obtain the digital work visa within fifteen days
Employers bringing expatriate workers to the Maldives must apply for and obtain the Work e-Visa within fifteen days of arrival on a valid Entry Pass. Immigration's current Work Visa service requires Xpat submission using eFaas. A company representative switches to My Organization, selects the employee's work permit, opens its Visa tab and chooses a new visa request. Upload a recent photograph, clear colour passport personal-details page and any additional documents requested.
An approved visa can be viewed or downloaded from the system. Its validity follows the Work Permit; renewals last at most one year. The service also warns that expired Work Permit fees make the linked visa appear invalid. A submitted request is not the same as an approved e-Visa, so the employer should check the resulting status rather than treating the upload date as completion.
Use the electronic record rather than arranging old stamping appointments
Immigration's November 2025 launch announcement explains the change: applicants previously needed appointments and physical passport submission even after applications moved online. The electronic service, available from 23 November 2025, allows an approved visa to be downloaded with a unique verification QR code. Foreign nationals holding valid visas can also see their visa details in the Immigration mobile application. The announcement says the ordinary requirement to submit a passport for stamping was removed.
An older official Work Visa page remains accessible on the department's second website. It still describes appointment booking, passport submission tokens and a stamped visa for departure. Those instructions reflect the earlier process and conflict with the electronic system. The November launch announcement expressly removes the earlier passport-submission requirement. Do not present a photograph of an old sticker as equivalent to the new verified electronic document; the change concerns the issued permission, not just a different method of booking an appointment.
Supply a photograph that can pass the standards check
The Work Visa checklist refers applicants to Immigration's photo standards. The standards guide requires a photograph taken within the last thirty days, with a plain white background, no border and only the applicant visible. The face should occupy seventy to eighty per cent of the frame, normally corresponding to a height of thirty-two to thirty-six millimetres. Both sides of the face and the area from chin to crown should be visible.
Use even lighting and a sharp image without reflections, shadows or red eyes. The head should face forward without tilting, with a neutral expression, closed mouth and clearly visible eyes. Hair and spectacle frames must not obscure the eyes; sunglasses and lens reflections are unacceptable. Religious head coverings may be allowed while leaving the face visible. These are practical upload-preparation checks, not a demand that a worker obtain a Maldivian passport: the visa service expressly uses the department's photo standards for its supporting photograph.
Ask the employer for the permit-payment record
The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority's Work Permit Fee FAQ lists MVR350 per month and identifies the expatriate's employer as the party liable to pay. It says payment is accepted online rather than through atoll councils, with a minimum payment period of one month and the maximum limited by passport or employment-contract expiry. A receipt can be generated online. Use that record to check the paid period instead of assuming a contract's end date proves that fees remain current.
For a first payment, MIRA lists a colour passport-page scan with one-year validity, appointment letter, medical report, digital photograph and a notarised agreement between the employee and a Maldivian or locally registered company. These are payment-related supporting requirements, separate from Immigration's shorter visa-upload list. The MVR350 figure is the Work Permit fee, not a verified additional e-Visa application charge. Questions about the payment record can be put to MIRA's published number, 1415; the visa service should resolve the immigration status itself.
