Okay, so here’s my little adventure on getting a Maldives passport. It wasn’t too complicated, but there were a few steps involved.
First off, I found out that all passport applications gotta go through this thing called IMUGA. Sounds fancy, right?
Since the government offices reopened, everything is mostly done online now. Good riddance to long queues, I say!
I also heard that starting from December 20, 2023, you don’t need your ID card anymore if you’re the one picking up the passport. But, this only applies if your old passport is expired. If it’s still valid, you’ll need that ID.
Here’s how I did it:
- Signing Up: First, I went over to the IMUGA website and registered. Pretty standard stuff, just like signing up for any other online service.
- Picking the Right Service: Once I was in, I looked for the “Dhivehi Passport” service. That’s the one you need for a Maldivian passport.
- Why a New Passport?: Then, I had to select why I needed a new passport. There were a few options, I picked the one that applied to me.
- Paperwork Stuff: I downloaded the passport application form, filled it all out with my details. There were places to upload some documents too, so I got those ready. I think it was a photo and maybe a copy of my old passport, can’t remember exactly.
- Hit Submit: Once everything was filled and uploaded, I just hit the submit button.
Apparently, the folks at Maldives Immigration said they’re taking passport applications 24/7 now, which is pretty cool. No more waiting for office hours.
After I sent in my application, I just had to wait. They said they’d get in touch once it was processed. The waiting was probably the hardest part, to be honest. But hey, it all worked out in the end, and now I’ve got my shiny new Maldives passport!
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