Last Call Before Israeli Passport Gets Banned

The government has decided to ban Israeli tourists visiting the Maldives. The decision made yesterday requires the parliament to amend laws. Implementation of the decision can only take place after the president ratifies the amendment. The Maldives public has been calling for this change for months and several demonstrations were held in capital city as well as other islands.



Statistics on the website of Maldives Immigration shows 108 tourists on Israeli passport visited Maldives in February this year, last month it was 107 guests. About 11000 Israelis visited last year, it is less than 1% of all tourist arrivals to the country. This signifies that Israel is a small market for the Maldives, but it has been rapidly growing over the years, especially in surfing niche. Major markets to the Maldives include UK, Germany, Russia, China, India, France, Spain, Italy. Americans visiting the Maldives have grown tremendously over the recent years, the statistics indicate there were 7525 Americans among the 194222 tourists visited the Maldives in March 2024.

A report on Mihaaru News says the government of Israel has issued a travel advisory for its citizens to leave Maldives immediately and avoid travelling to the island nation. However, it is highly unlikely that Maldives government would ask Israeli tourists to leave. Implementation of new policies usually take effect for new arrivals, tourists already in the Maldives are expected to depart prior to expiry of the tourist visa that is already issued.



Maldives currently issues 30-day free visa to tourists from all countries. This tourist visa is issued upon arrival in the airport, no prior visa is required to visit Maldives as tourist. However, all travelers are required to fill a mandatory self-declaration prior to arrival. This can be done online with phone, it is required for both arrival and departure, within 96 hours of flight time in Maldives airport.

Maldives Finest recommends filling the Self Declaration when it is about 48 hours to your flight time. Adding a buffer to the window of time ensures any flight advances would not cause your declaration go beyond the required 96 hours. When you count hours please note that it is the flight landing or take off time in Maldives airport, not flight departing time at airport of origin or destination. One of our guests on VIP airport service package actually had the time counted wrong, so we had help doing all over again. The Maldives Immigration systems are configured to trace declaration records within 96 hours. So, when it goes beyond there is no record. If you are on our VIP package and arrive without the self-declaration done the Immigration Department usually ask you do fill it immediately, there is wifi available in the lounge. But, regular guests arriving to the terminal may have difficulties in filling up and decision to allow entry rests in the hands of Duty Officer of the Maldives Immigration. Either case, we always recommend to keep it filled prior to arriving at the airport to avoid any unwanted issues.



According to Sky News the Israeli foreign ministry has recommended dual-citizens not to travel to the Maldives. But, we have not observed any action from the government or the local communities on taking action against dual-citizens. Once the law is passed we will know exact details of the ban. Currently available information indicates the ban is only on passport, not the nationality. This means dual citizens can still use their other passport to travel to the Maldives. Otherwise, you have a short of window to visit Maldives before the implement of the ban.



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