Maldives Sends Parliament a Bill to Make Its Ban on Israeli Passport Holders Unconditional and Permanent
Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu told a press conference at the President's Office on November 9 that his government has submitted a new Immigration Bill to the People's Majlis that would bar anyone holding an Israeli passport from entering the Maldives "under any circumstances," removing the existing ban's link to the war in Gaza. According to the President's Office press release of the day (Ref: 2026-661), the proposed law would impose the prohibition irrespective of changing circumstances.
Israeli passport holders are already barred from the Maldives. The current rule comes from the Third Amendment to the Immigration Act, passed by the Majlis and ratified by Muizzu on April 15, 2025, which prohibits entry until Israel ends the actions against Palestinians that began after October 7, 2023. Muizzu said earlier proposals tied the ban to that situation, while the new bill removes the condition: "We have firmly and clearly defined in the act that no person with an Israeli passport can enter the Maldives."
A related real-estate bill was submitted the same day. Maldivian media reported that it would make sales of real estate to Israeli citizens, or to companies with any Israeli shareholding, void, with buyers screened; Israelis with a second nationality might still enter on another passport but could not use it to get around the property restrictions.
The Immigration Bill still requires parliamentary debate and approval; a first reading has been scheduled. Until it passes, the existing conditional ban remains in force. The Maldives is an Indian Ocean island nation whose economy rests on tourism. Muizzu's cabinet first decided in June 2024 to amend the law to keep Israeli passport holders out, and the ban was legislated in April 2025; the new bill would convert a policy adopted over the Palestinian issue from one tied to events in Gaza into a permanent, unconditional one.
（Source: The President's Office, Maldives）
Source: The President's Office, Maldives
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：马尔代夫首都马累天际线。照片：公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Skyline of Malé, capital of the Maldives. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
