Consular Services Department facilitates Maldivian nationals to obtain visas from Missions that are accredited to the Maldives mostly in Colombo and New Delhi respectively. The Ministry’s visa facilitation service can only be availed where the physical presence of the applicant to submit the application is not required and the respective Missions allow third party submission.
When applying for a visa, the applicant must meet all necessary criteria / pre-requirements set by the relevant Mission.
In cases where visas are issued by Diplomatic Missions located in Male’, the applicant should directly obtain it from those Missions.
Visa Application Forms will be available from the respective Embassy/High Commission or VFS websites along with a checklist to assist in meeting the requirements. Applicants are strongly advised to directly refer to the respective Embassy or VFS website for the latest visa information and application guidelines.
If in-person submission is not required and the respective Mission allows submission through the Ministry, the completed Visa Application Forms and the relevant supporting documents / materials can be submitted to the Ministry along with the completed Visa Facilitation Form and Consent Form, both available for download on the Ministry website. Applications so received, will be tendered to the pertinent Mission via the Embassy of Maldives. The original set of Application and passport will be couriered to the relevant Embassy of Maldives through the Ministry’s Diplomatic Pouch.
The following are the days on which the Ministry’s Diplomatic Pouch is being couriered to our Embassies:
- Colombo: Monday & Thursday
- New Delhi: Thursday
- Singapore: Thursday
- Islamabad: Thursday
Once a visa application is submitted to the relevant Mission, if any issue arises, the applicant will be notified immediately. Each Mission of the receiving foreign country has its own time frame for visa processing; hence the Ministry / Maldivian Missions do not have any authority to request the relevant High Commission / Embassy to grant the visa on a special time frame or request to speed up the process.
Further, the Ministry / Maldivian Mission also do not have any authority to verify the status of the visa before the end of processing period.
In cases where those High Commissions / Embassies require the Applicant’s fingerprints / interview process / any other biometric details, the Applicant must make a presence at the respective High Commission / Embassy.
Once the visa is issued, Maldivian Mission will retrieve the passport and forward it to the Ministry. When the Ministry receives it, the applicant would be notified immediately, and the passport will be handed over at the earliest.
Passport, completed visa application form, all necessary documentation and visa fee (in the form of a Bank Draft) must be submitted to the Ministry in order to facilitate visa. The Ministry will not accept any form of cash payment towards visa fees as the Diplomatic Pouch cannot contain any cash.
The Visa applicant should be responsible for paying the visa fee. If the fee must be paid via a bank draft, it can be sent with the visa application through the Ministry. If the fee must be paid by cash, the applicant has to arrange delivery of cash to the respective Embassy/VFS Centre or to the Maldives Mission.
- The Ministry undertakes visa facilitation service under the following terms & conditions;
1) The applicant is responsible for the accuracy of information provided and for completing the application form properly where relevant and applicable.
2) The Ministry does not verify the information provided by the applicant.
3) The assessment of visa application is carried out by the relevant Mission of the country that the applicant is requesting to visit.
4) Since the grant or refusal of visa is at the sole discretion of the relevant Mission, the Ministry cannot request the Mission to re-consider its decision if visa application is rejected, or request for a clarification of its decision if none is provided.
5) The pertinent Mission has the right to ask for further information, documentation, and materials from the applicant. The Mission also has the right to instruct the applicant to make an appearance despite submitting all necessary documentation / materials. In both cases, those required must be fulfilled promptly and as advised by the Mission.
6) The compilation of the application set, inclusive of all required materials, should be complete and meet the conditions detailed in the Checklist or should fit the relevant Mission’s criteria. The Ministry will not be held responsible for Incomplete applications and the Ministry will not be able to verify if the documents are in order.
7) The Ministry will not accept a visa application that does not fit the processing time frame, unless the applicant consents to take the full responsibility for any visas not issued on time.
8) Once the application is forwarded to the relevant Mission, the Ministry cannot check the application’s status within the processing period or request the application to be fast tracked.
9) Retrieval & Dispatch of Visa obtained Passport will depend on the logistical options available to the Ministry and Maldives missions at the given time.
10) The Ministry undertakes the visa facilitation as a service. The applicant has the option to lodge the application to the relevant Mission without any engagement of the Ministry.