This page was updated on January 2023.
Table of Contents
Is the Maldives open for visitors?
Yes. The Maldives is now fully open for visitors. However, there are some Covid-19 restrictions and precautionary measures that are prevalent in the country. Tourists are also required to mandatorily submit the Travel Declaration Form within 96 hours prior to departure.
Is the Maldives open to international tourism?
Yes. The Maldives is now fully open to international tourism. A pre-arrival visa is not required to gain entry into the country, and the tourists are provided a 30-day free visa on arrival. The tourists’ Passport must have at least 1-month of validity from the date of expected departure in the Maldives.
Furthermore, tourists are NOT required to produce a negative PCR test result for Covid-19 prior to their entry into the Maldives.
Please visit https://visitmaldives.com/en/covid19-updates for more information.
What are the Maldives’ vaccine requirements?
Vaccination is mandatory for entering the Maldives. A traveller will be considered fully vaccinated only if the second dose for vaccines with a two-dose schedule has been administered at least 14 days before departure, or at least 21 days after passed after the administration of the vaccine with a single-dose schedule.
Furthermore, international arrivals are also NO longer required to present their vaccination certificates and other COVID-19 documents.
Maldives-approved vaccines are as follows:
- Pfizer / BioNTech
- Moderna / Spikevax
- Sputnik V
- Janssen / Johnson & Johnson
- Covishield
- Covilo
Source: Maldives – COVID19 Vaccine Tracker (trackvaccines.org)
What are the Maldives’ entry requirements?
Documents required
The following documents will be required for entry into the Maldives:
- The tourists’ Passport must have at least 1-month validity from the date of expected departure in the Maldives.
- The Travel Declaration Form should be filled out and submitted within 72 hours prior to departure.
- A return/onward ticket.
Testing requirements
Arrivals in the Maldives are NO longer required to present a pre-departure negative PCR test certificate for entry into the country. However, except for arriving tourists and Maldivians to the Maldives, other travellers are advised to undertake a PCR test between days 3 and 5 of arrival. Furthermore, travellers who have symptoms of COVID-19 may take an antigen test.
Quarantine requirements
Travel-related quarantine is NO longer a requirement for entry into the Maldives.
Travellers identified as the direct contact of a positive case of Covid-19
Travellers quarantined separately from the positive case
Travellers who have completed the required doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in case of being identified as the direct contact of a positive case of Covid-19, and are quarantined separately from the positive case, will have to go through the following requirements:
- Travellers who have been identified as the direct contact of a positive case but asymptomatic, are NOT required to observe a quarantine period. However, if symptomatic the individual must undertake a PCR test or a Rapid Antigen Test for Covid-19 and can only be released upon receiving a negative test result.
- All individuals who are identified as the direct contact of a positive case are required to undertake an additional PCR test after five (5) days from the date of the last contact with the said positive case.
Please note that these requirements are only applicable to those direct contacts who are quarantined separately from the positive case.
Travellers quarantined together with a positive case of Covid-19
The procedures mentioned below are to be ensured and implemented for individuals who observe their mandatory quarantine period together with a positive case of Covid-19.
- Travellers identified as the direct contact of a positive case of Covid-19 must observe quarantine till the positive case of Covid-19 completes their isolation period.
- The quarantine period will come to an end only upon receiving a negative result for the PCR test done at the end of the isolation period of the positive case of Covid-19.
- All travellers from this category are required to undertake an additional PCR test after five (5) days from the end of the isolation period of the positive case.
Please note that travellers shall use the Rapid Antigen self-kit to test for Covid -19 only if they have Covid-19 symptoms. In case these test results are positive, then the individual will be considered a positive case of Covid-19 and the prescribed measures would apply.
However, if an Isolation document is needed, a PCR test or a Rapid Antigen Test for Covid-19 shall be taken from an approved laboratory or health facility.
Please visit https://visitmaldives.com/en/covid19-updates for more information.
Interstate Travel in the Maldives
There are some Covid-19 precautionary measures to be followed while travelling with the Maldives.
Wearing a mask is not necessarily mandatory in the Maldives. However, it is mandatory only under the following conditions:
- In all health facilities, regardless of outbreak status, staff, patients and visitors must wear masks.
- In outbreak areas (where sample positivity is above 20%), masks must be worn in public areas as per current guidelines for outbreak areas.
Wearing a mask is also recommended in situations including:
- Services where crowding takes place
- Gatherings in confined indoor spaces
- Transport vehicles where many people travel and when using public transportation such bus, ferry, taxi)
- Crowded places/ gatherings
- People who have symptoms of COVID-19
The authority also advised people who are at high risk for COVID-19 or who live with/care for high-risk people to continue wearing masks when in public.
Please visit https://covid19.health.gov.mv for more details.
