“Need permission to land” – Robbie Williams.
Tourists visiting The Maldives DO NEED a visa, however the process does not involve countless embassy visits, stress, nor even excruciatingly annoying online form filling. All nationalities, yes ALL (with a recent exception denying Israel), are allowed a visa on arrival as long as you satisfy the requirements from The Maldives official government. While this is available on arrival at any international airport or seaport in The Maldives (a country which doesn’t land border any others), there’s something they forgot to tell you, and something many tourists gloss over: you need to have a Traveller Declaration before flying (or sailing) in. This is what countries class as “not a visa”, “only a quick bit of red tape/bureaucracy”, but it’s what real travellers class as a “visa in disguise”. You fake newsed me, Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, The Seychelles, The USA, Sri Lanka, Dominica etc. In all those cases I needed a visa to enter, often disguise as an “online document”, “tourist survey”, “tourism levy” (ahem BVI – that’s a visa!), “visa waiver” (more fake news – if you paid for it, it’s a visa). The Maldives seems to be a two step process. Firstly, I’ll take you through step one – the Traveller Declaration. I made this the first proper stop on my 2025 “Rainy Summertime” Tour.
Background To The Maldives
Please don’t forget that The Maldives is a strict Muslim country and as such certain prohibitions are in place – no alcohol can be brought into the country, although some resorts and hotels do sell it. Nude beaches don’t exist. There are also strict laws to what you can and cannot wear on beaches, with many banning even bikinis – you must cover up. That said, the vibe is chilled out and relaxed, and filling in the Traveller Declaration (Visa In Disguise) isn’t that stressful especially when I compare it to Burkina Faso visas and Niger visas in recent times.
When Did The Maldives Introduce The Traveller Declaration (Visa In Disguise)?
Well it was a post-COVID thing. Since the borders reopened on 15th July 2020, every traveller going in or out of The Maldives must submit the health declaration 24 hours before it, again – this is disguised as a Traveller Declaration, which in turn is another form of visa. Check the link below from the official website.
https://www.immigration.gov.mv/immigration-introduces-electronic-traveller-health-declaration/
A The Maldives Tourist Visa
The main The Maldives government immigration site give you Maldives Visa advice here. That confirms that all nationalities can get a visa on arrival. A tourist visa is granted on arrival to The Maldives. As such, a foreigner travelling to The Maldives as a tourist does not require pre-approval for the visa. However, the person must satisfy the basic entry requirements to get immigration clearance upon arrival. Additionally, with the 3rd Amendment to Immigration Act 1/2007, effective from 15th April 2025 entry to The Maldives will not be granted on Israeli passports. I’ve highlited in bold in green in point 4 below – the fact that this “getting a visa on arrival” is fake news as you need to have the Traveller Declaration in advance!
The basic entry requirements are as follows;
- A passport or a travel document with Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) with at least 1 month validity.
- 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 The Maldives Immigration.
- Entry requirements to their onward destinations; for example, the visa and passport validity.
- All foreigners arriving in The Maldives must complete and submit the ‘Traveller Declaration’ form. The form can be completed up to 96 hours (4 days) before your arrival in The Maldives. Submission of the form is free of charge and must be filled electronically via the IMUGA portal.
- Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate, if applicable. Children under 1 year of age are exempt from Yellow Fever vaccination. Click here to check the Yellow Fever endemic countries.
How to get the Traveller Declaration For The Maldives
The main The Maldives government immigration site as written above, gives you Maldives Visa advice here. That confirms that all nationalities can get a visa on arrival. However, this doesn’t escape the fact that you still need this Traveller Declaration, so head to this link and apply.
Click on the right hand option there, above – Traveller Declaration and then register using your email address. You will reach a screen with five stages, well to start with five stages, then the confirmation stage, so six stages really.
1.Prerequisite.
2.Personal Details.
3.Travel Details.
4.Health Declaration.
5.Customs Declaration.
6.Confirmation.
I’ll take you through each stage easily…
1.Prerequisite
You just click on the fact you want a The Maldives Traveller Declaration then upload a scan of your passport. As usual, these online systems are annoying and the scan might be rejected – keep trying, or find someone who has an actual scanner and then they cannot reject your passport.
2.Personal Details
You add your email address, your mobile telephone number and your passport photo and passport details. Passport photos are constantly a pain in the ass on online apps and visa applications, so I beat the system a few years ago by getting one perfect digital copy and I use the same photo for every single visa application, both printed and digital. Make sure you get a digital passport photo. I used Fotomax in Poland. This hasn’t been rejected yet although many of my online visas were rejected for shit photos including The Seychelles. Yet the photo is my actual passport was taken on my shit old mobile phone. Baffling.
3.Travel Details
All you need here is the flight number, date of flight, length of stay, reservation number and the destination point and arrival point. If you are coming by boat, then the ship’s journey number.
4.Health Declaration
Just confirm you didn’t have any illnesses recently, or that you didn’t pass through any high risk countries/yellow fever zones. I hadn’t – I started this trip in The Maldives as I didn’t want any hassle of coming into The Maldives from Africa away. I was flying in from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
5.Customs Declaration
Here just confirm that you are not taking anything illegal with you. Standard procedure and don’t forget – bringing alcohol into The Maldives is illegal.
6.Confirmation
And actually that is it!! Once you have done those 5 steps, you should get a confirmation both on the website and on email. I printed mine as well as screenshat it on my laptop and smartphone. The confirmation has a reference number, traveller code, token, plus your details and a QR code which they will scan once you backpack the airport/seaport on arrival. That all looks like this…
So that is how to get the Traveller Declaration for The Maldives, but that’s not even the actual visa, which is to be obtained on arrival.