Maldives Seeks Unconditional Israeli Passport Ban and Wider Property Restrictions

New proposal would remove the condition on an existing ban

The Maldives government has submitted an Immigration Bill that would prohibit entry by Israeli passport holders regardless of developments in Palestine, while related property legislation would block Israeli citizens and companies from acquiring certain property rights, including through another nationality or indirect company ownership.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu outlined the measures at a briefing at the President's Office on November 9, 2026. The immigration proposal would replace a restriction that he described as lasting until Israel stops its attacks on Palestinians and circumstances change. Under the proposed wording, that condition would disappear.

The Maldives already has a legal restriction on entry using Israeli passports. The President's Office confirmed that Muizzu ratified the Third Amendment to the Maldives Immigration Act, Law No. 01/2007, on April 15, 2025. The latest proposal therefore seeks to change the scope and duration of an existing restriction.

The government's announcement says the Immigration Bill's first reading is scheduled for Monday. No date was given for a final vote or for the proposed immigration and property measures to take effect.

For travellers and investors, the central issue is how the government would identify Israeli citizenship when someone presents another country's passport. Parliament removed a broader restriction on dual citizens from the legislation passed in 2025 after immigration officials raised practical problems with checking a person's other nationalities.

The new proposals revisit that problem at two points: permission to enter the country and permission to acquire property rights. Muizzu said immigration authorities would examine dual nationality cases, while prospective property investors would face identity checks before transactions could be approved.

What the April 2025 law established

The President's Office recorded both parliamentary passage and presidential ratification on April 15, 2025, in its ratification announcement. The amendment passed at the 20th sitting of the People's Majlis during its first session of that year.

The announcement said the amendment introduced a provision expressly prohibiting entry by individuals holding Israeli passports. Accounts of the parliamentary proceedings explain how officials would apply it: the restriction concerned the passport presented for travel, with the condition that it would last until Israel ceased its attacks on Palestine.

Lawmakers approved the amendment unanimously, with 83 votes, including support from members of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Some opposition lawmakers nevertheless objected to the removal of language covering Israeli citizens who travelled with another country's passport.

The official ratification date provides the firm legal milestone in the chronology. References to October 7 in the political debate concern the events behind the restriction; the President's Office dates the enactment of the passport amendment to April 15, 2025.

Muizzu wants a restriction without an expiry condition

Muizzu said the new bill would place Israeli passport holders among the categories of people prohibited from entering the Maldives without tying that prohibition to a change in Palestine.

The president described the proposed wording at the briefing:

We have firmly and clearly defined in the act that no person with an Israeli passport can enter Maldives.

Removing the condition would change how the restriction could end. Under the arrangement Muizzu described, its duration is connected to events in Palestine. The proposed prohibition would continue regardless of those events, unless the law were subsequently changed.

Muizzu linked the proposal to his government's opposition to Israel's actions against Palestinians, which he described as genocide. He said admitting people from Israel was unacceptable to Maldivians and inconsistent with government policy.

Why dual citizenship is central to the debate

Maldives Immigration told the parliamentary committee considering the earlier bill that officials determine a foreign visitor's nationality from the passport presented at entry. The department said it could not confirm whether the traveller also held citizenship and a passport from another country.

A person with dual citizenship is legally a citizen of two countries and may hold a passport from each. Checking only the document used for travel can therefore produce a different result from checking every nationality that person holds.

The National Security Services Committee, also known as the 241 Committee, changed the earlier proposal to focus on travel using Israeli passports. It removed wording that would have prohibited an Israeli person from entering with another country's passport. Immigration officials had told the committee that restricting the travel document was the implementable approach.

South Galolhu MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem, who introduced the earlier proposal, argued that the resulting law fell short of its intended purpose. MDP parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Nazil and other opposition lawmakers also objected to the treatment of dual citizens, although their party voted for passage.

The latest immigration proposal would extend the restriction to dual citizens holding Israeli citizenship or an Israeli passport, including those travelling with another country's passport. Muizzu said immigration authorities would review such cases. The practical challenge is identifying that additional nationality during entry checks.

Property rules would reach beyond the passport presented

The proposed Real Estate Business Bill would connect eligibility to acquire property rights with immigration restrictions. Within an Integrated Real Estate Zone, leasehold rights could not be sold to citizens of countries whose nationals are prohibited from entering or residing in the Maldives under immigration or other relevant laws.

Leasehold means the right to hold or use property for a period set by an agreement. In Rasmale', the proposed restrictions concern those property rights within the integrated development zone.

The property bill also contains a specific prohibition on sales to Israeli citizens and legal entities directly or indirectly owned by Israeli citizens. Transactions made for their benefit would also be prohibited, and transactions breaching the restrictions would be void, meaning they would have no legal effect.

Indirect ownership matters when a company is owned through another company rather than directly by an individual. The proposed wording would require checks beyond the immediate buyer to identify Israeli ownership or a transaction benefiting an Israeli citizen.

Muizzu said authorities would use KYC checks to assess prospective property investors. KYC means "know your customer": checks used to establish a customer's identity and relevant ownership details. He said transactions involving Israeli citizens would not be approved, including where a person travelled on another country's passport.

The president presented the policy as a wider prohibition on Israeli investment. The detailed property provisions described so far concern leasehold transactions in Integrated Real Estate Zones, including Rasmale', and ownership arrangements connected to those transactions.

Rasmale' places the investment rules in focus

Muizzu's comments followed opposition criticism of the proposed Maldives Water Front and Marina project in Rasmale'. The development debate has brought attention to who would be allowed to invest and how authorities would check prospective buyers.

The immigration and property bills would operate at different stages. Immigration officers would decide whether a person could enter the Maldives. Authorities examining a property transaction would check whether the buyer, the company's owners or the people benefiting from the purchase were eligible.

For companies handling sales, the proposed rule on void transactions would make those checks consequential. A sale prohibited by the legislation would have no legal effect even if the parties had agreed to it.

Muizzu also outlined plans to renew investor visas every five years. He said renewal would depend on compliance with Maldivian laws and regulations, the progress of the investment and the national interest. That would create a recurring review of an investor's permission to stay, alongside the checks required for property transactions.

The immigration overhaul extends beyond Israel

The Immigration Bill would establish Maldives Immigration as a separate civil service and set out rules for managing entry, departure and residence. It would also govern the issuing of passports to Maldivian citizens and procedures for dealing with foreign nationals who enter or remain without permission.

The proposed grounds for refusing entry cover several categories alongside Israeli passport holders. They include people considered a threat to Maldivian sovereignty or national security, members of terrorist organisations, people suspected of links to those organisations and people believed to be terrorists.

People accused of or responsible for crimes under international law would also fall within the proposed restrictions. Other categories include people subject to International Criminal Court proceedings or arrest warrants, people listed by Interpol, fugitives wanted by foreign justice or investigative authorities, and people previously deported with a prohibition on returning.

Public health provisions would cover people suspected of carrying diseases that threaten public health and arrivals from places designated by the Ministry of Health or World Health Organization as experiencing a dangerous disease outbreak.

The proposal also covers nationals of countries affected by applicable entry restrictions connected to absent, severed or suspended diplomatic relations. Further grounds concern reasonable suspicion of activities that could undermine social or religious cohesion, as well as prohibitions imposed by other laws.

Maldives Immigration itself would receive a broader organisational framework. The bill addresses development of the Immigration Office, staff training, service rules and the legal basis for immigration policies and procedures. Muizzu said the existing law needed updating to meet current needs.

How the proposals reached this point

The latest measures follow a parliamentary process that began in 2024 and produced the existing passport restriction in April 2025. The main steps were:

• May 29, 2024: South Galolhu MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem proposed the measure to ban Israeli passport holders.
• June 2, 2024: The government announced its decision to change the arrangements allowing Israelis to enter.
• June 10, 2024: The People's Majlis accepted the bill for consideration and referred it to the National Security Services Committee.
• April 14, 2025: The committee approved amended wording focused on entry using Israeli passports and removed the broader provision on dual citizens.
• April 15, 2025: Parliament passed the amendment with 83 votes, and Muizzu ratified it.
• November 9, 2026: Muizzu described an unconditional passport prohibition, restrictions involving dual citizens and related property investment controls.

The earlier delay became a political issue. Opposition lawmakers criticised the pace of committee work, while public gatherings and protests pressed for action. The committee eventually approved its changes unanimously, but the disagreement over dual citizenship continued after the parliamentary vote.

Palestinian statehood remains the stated policy

The President's Office said the April 2025 amendment reflected the government's response to Israel's actions against Palestinians. Its statement described those actions as atrocities and genocide and reaffirmed support for accountability for violations of international law.

The same statement set out the government's support for an independent Palestinian state based on the borders before 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Muizzu has also called for full Palestinian membership of the United Nations.

At the later briefing, Muizzu said the Maldives had maintained that position in international forums and through participation in legal cases concerning Palestinian rights. He presented the proposed entry and investment restrictions as consistent with that policy.

The legislative change now sought is concrete: an entry restriction that would continue regardless of developments in Palestine, broader attention to dual nationality, and property rules reaching citizens, companies and indirect ownership. Parliament's consideration of the bills will determine the final wording that immigration officers and property authorities must apply.

Key Points

• The Maldives enacted its existing Israeli passport restriction on April 15, 2025.
• The new Immigration Bill would remove the condition linking the restriction's duration to developments in Palestine.
• The proposed immigration measures would also cover Israeli dual citizens travelling on another country's passport.
• The property bill would prohibit specified leasehold transactions involving Israeli citizens, companies they own or transactions benefiting them.
• Transactions violating the proposed property restrictions would be void.
• Muizzu said investor visas would be reviewed for renewal every five years.
• The immigration overhaul also covers security, public health, residence procedures and the organisation of Maldives Immigration.