Agoda becomes an Associate Partner of Maldives Border Miles

Agoda, one of the fastest-growing online travel booking platform, signed an associate partnership with Maldives Border Miles, the world’s first destination loyalty program for tourists. The online signing ceremony was honored by Controller General of Maldives Immigration, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Hussain, along with Deputy Minister of Tourism, Dr. Naushad Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., Mr. John Brown, Deputy Managing Director of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation, Mrs. Neesha Shahid, Director of Global Government Affairs of Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., Mr. Daniel Gelfer and the Country Manager of Agoda Company Pte. Ltd. to the Maldives, Mr. Mohamed Amaan.

Maldives welcomes the 1 millionth tourist of 2021 to the Sunny Side of Life!

A colorful celebration was held at Velana International Airport on Friday to welcome the 1 Millionth Tourists to the Maldives. The 1 Millionth Tourist Mr Victor Vincent Corentin from France arrived from EK652 flight this afternoon. He was received by officials of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), together with the Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), Maldives Immigration, Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), and representatives of the Maldives tourism industry.

Opening remarks of Controller General Mohamed Ahmed Hussain at the 6th ANDEX annual meeting

I would like to welcome the distinguished representatives of 13 participating countries of this ANDEX forum. I would also like to welcome the International Organizations including Canadian Border Services Agency, INTERPOL, FRONTEX and UNODC for participating as observers in this meeting. I would also like to welcome the representatives of Observer countries to the 6th ANDEX meeting and hope that they will decide to join the ANDEX Network in the coming future. I am extremely happy and thankful to the Member States that Maldives got to hold this meeting. But I would be even happier if I could have everyone in Maldives and enjoying this meeting with a different view. Nevertheless, even in these unprecedented times, we are gathered here even virtually in this platform, in our relentless efforts to raise collective awareness and enhance regional cooperation to combat irregular migration and other related crimes.

Highlights from the Border Management & Technologies Summit Asia conference

Controller General Mohamed Ahmed Hussain attended the Border Management & Technologies Summit Asia conference, held from September 20–22, 2022 in Singapore. The conference brought together the leading government officials from across Central Asia, South-East Asia, Australia and the Middle East, also the technological leading experts across the globe, to discuss the border security challenges faced at the present day.

Speaking at the conference, the Controller General highlighted the impacts of COVID-19 and the challenges faced by Maldives Immigration as a leading border agency. Besides the economic setbacks to the country, Controller General stressed that the pandemic played a vital role in bringing more effective and efficient technological solutions in the border management. Furthermore, reflecting on bringing innovative ideas for the interest of the country, the rationale of Maldives Border Miles, the world’s first destination loyalty program, was shared with the attendees.

Note:

Expatriate should be registered under the “Expatriate Medical Insurance” issued from Allied Insurance Company, before applying for visa. Work Visa fee should be paid for a minimum of 3 months from the date of submission of the application. The existing Employees while returning to Maldives after been abroad must make sure their visa is valid or at least the Work Permit should remain valid.

History

THE REVOLUTION

The revolution of the Maldivian passport

The first Travel Document to a Maldivian was issued on 1950s, by the Ministry of External Affairs. It was named as the Maldivian Pass, which was only valid to travel between Maldives and Ceylon. It is said that the reason for introducing this travel document was for trade purposes, mainly for fish exporting.

The first passport to a Maldivian was issued from the High Commission of the United Kingdom, based at Colombo. This series was known as the British Passport, and it enabled the Maldivians to travel to all foreign countries as a ‘British protected person of the Maldive islands’.

British Passport was replaced by the Maldivian Passport on 20th April 1964, which was the first passport issued from an authority of the Maldivian government, the Ministry of External Affairs, as a result of the independence demands from a British protectorate, by the then Prime Minister of Maldives, Ibrahim Nasir.

Passport was again transformed on 12th December 1965, soon after the Maldives reclaimed independence on 26th July 1965. This series was issued by the newly inaugurated Passport Office of Maldives, the office designated for immigration control of Maldives. The cost of this passport was MVR4.

The second series of the passport after the independence, the ‘A’ series, was introduced on 1975. This was replaced by the 2nd issue of ‘A’ series of passport on 1980, which was the first issue after the Passport Office was reformed as the Department of Immigration & Emigration. The 3rd and 4th issue of the ‘A’ series was issued on 1990 and 2003 respectively.

The first electronic passport, the 1st generation e-passport (also known as bio metric passport or digital passport) was introduced on the 42nd anniversary of the Maldives independence, which was on 26th July 2007. E-passport has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains bio metric information. This information can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder.

PASSPORT

The current passport, the 2nd generation e-passport, was launched on 25th January 2016, by the then President of the Maldives, His Excellency Abdulla Yamin Abdul Gayyoom. This passport contain a highly secured polycarbonate data page with laser engraved photo and data. Each visa page of the passport has a different design, with numerous illustrations by the Maldivian local artist, Hussain Ali Manik. It is one of the most secure biometric passports in the world with 34 visible and invisible security features and full compliance to the highest security passport standards.

The Maldives is the first country in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to introduce such a sophisticated biometric passport