# Visa policy of the Maldives

Maldives grants a free visa on arrival for 30 days to all citizens unless they are citizens of one of the visa-exempt countries.

## Visa exemption

Citizens of the following countries can enter the Maldives without a visa:
| India  Pakistan | Russia  Sri Lanka |
| Cambodia  China  Guyana | Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Mongolia |
* Date of visa changes
* Nationals of Pakistan never needed a visa to enter Maldives
* March 1979: India
* 25 July 2019: Russia
* 02 September 2019: Sri Lanka
* 14 September 2022: Kazakhstan
* 17 February 2023: China
* 4 May 2023: Cambodia
* 20 August 2023: Kyrgyzstan
* 12 January 2024: Mongolia
Holders of diplomatic and service category passports of Japan do not require a visa.

## Entry requirements

All visitors to Maldives must:
* Hold a passport or a travel document with a Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) with at least 1 months validity. (Passengers with an extended validity in their passports are not allowed to enter.)
* Have a complete travel itinerary including confirmed return journey tickets, a prepaid confirmed booking at a registered facility, and sufficient funds to cover the stay in the Maldives, or a pre-approved sponsorship visa from Maldives Immigration.
* Have entry requirements to their onward destination; for example, the visa and passport validity.
* Have Traveller Declaration form filled in and submitted by all foreigners arriving to the Maldives, within 96 hours (4 days) to the flight time. Submission of the form is free of charge and must be filled electronically via the IMUGA portal.
* Have Carte Jaune proof of a yellow fever vaccination , if applicable. Children under 1 year of age are exempt from the yellow fever vaccination.

## Admission Restricted

* As of 2 June 2024, entry and transit is refused to Israel citizens, even if not leaving the aircraft and proceeding by the same flight.
* The decision was made by the Maldivian President's office which announced that it would ban all Israeli citizens from entering the country, in response to the Israel-Hamas war and domestic public anger until further notice.
* However as of 18 June 2024, the ban is postponed.
* As of 2 July 2024, it is completely unknown if there is still a ban on all Israel Citizens.
* Regardless of citizenship, Maldives does not allow entry for periods of less than 24 hours, even (especially) for transit purposes.

## Future changes

Maldives has signed visa exemption agreements with the following countries, but they have not yet entered into force:
| Country | Passports | Agreement signed on |
| Seychelles | All | 12 June 2023 |
| Ghana | All | 14 March 2023 |
| Burundi | All | 26 April 2023 |
| Rwanda | All | 5 May 2023 |
| Serbia | Diplomatic, official | 8 May 2023 |
| The Gambia | All | 11 June 2023 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | All | 19 September 2023 |
| Honduras | All | 19 September 2023 |
| Togo | All | 19 September 2023 |
| Andorra | All | 20 September 2023 |
| Azerbaijan | Diplomatic, official | 2024 |
| Oman | Diplomatic, official | 2024 |
| Tajikistan | All | 2024 |

## Visitor statistics

Most visitors arriving to the Maldives were from the following countries of nationality:
| Country | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| China | 284,029 | 283,116 | 306,905 | 324,326 | 359,514 |
| India | 166,030 | 90,474 | 83,019 | 66,955 | 52,368 |
| Italy | 136,343 | 105,297 | 88,867 | 71,202 | 65,616 |
| Germany | 131,561 | 117,532 | 112,109 | 106,381 | 105,132 |
| United Kingdom | 126,199 | 114,602 | 103,977 | 101,843 | 92,775 |
| Russia | 83,369 | 70,935 | 61,931 | 46,522 | 44,323 |
| France | 59,738 | 50,476 | 42,365 | 40,487 | 42,024 |
| United States | 54,474 | 42,901 | 39,180 | 32,589 | 29,308 |
| Japan | 44,251 | 42,304 | 41,133 | 39,894 | 39,244 |
| Australia | 39,928 | 37,254 | 27,360 | - | - |
| Total | 1,702,887 | 1,484,274 | 1,389,542 | 1,286,135 | 1,234,248 |