Maldives Visa & IMUGA Form: The Budget Traveller's Arrival Checklist

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The short version

Good news first. You don't apply for a Maldives visa before you fly. Every tourist, whatever passport they hold, gets a free 30-day visa stamped on arrival, as long as they tick a few boxes. The one thing you actually have to do online is the IMUGA traveller declaration, and it's free.

So the to-do list is short:

1. Check your passport has at least a month left on it (more is safer, see below).
2. Book your flight out, and at least your first night's accommodation.
3. Within 96 hours of landing, fill in the IMUGA form on imuga.immigration.gov.mv.
4. Leave the vape, the duty-free gin and the pork jerky at home.

That's it. The rest of this page is the detail, for when you want to be sure.

What you need to enter

According to Maldives Immigration, to get the tourist visa on arrival you need:

• A machine-readable passport with at least one month of validity. Immigration says passports with "extended validity" aren't accepted. The UK government words it as an expiry date at least one month after you arrive. Some airlines play it safer, so if you're under six months, check with yours before you fly.
• A complete itinerary. That means a confirmed return or onward ticket, a prepaid confirmed booking at a registered tourist facility, and enough money for your stay. Or a pre-approved sponsorship visa, which doesn't apply to most tourists.
• Whatever your next country needs, like a visa for your onward stop.
• The IMUGA traveller declaration, submitted online.
• A yellow fever certificate, but only if you're coming from (or through) a country with yellow fever risk. Babies under one are exempt.

Two more things worth knowing. Kids need their own passport. And since 15 April 2025, the Maldives doesn't grant entry on Israeli passports.

Meeting all of this doesn't automatically guarantee entry. Officers decide at the desk under the Immigration Act. But for a normal tourist with a ticket home and a guesthouse booked, it's routine.

The IMUGA form, step by step

IMUGA is the Maldives Immigration online portal, and the traveller declaration is the form every foreigner has to fill in before arriving. It takes about ten minutes.

When

Within 96 hours (four days) before your arrival flight. Not a week before. If you try too early, it won't let you. Doing it the night before you fly is fine.

What you'll need to hand

• Your passport
• Your flight number and arrival date
• Where you're staying: the name and island of your first guesthouse or hotel
• Basic contact details

How it goes

1. Go to imuga.immigration.gov.mv and choose the Traveller Declaration (arrival).
2. Fill in your personal and passport details exactly as they appear in your passport.
3. Add your travel details and accommodation.
4. Answer the health and customs questions honestly.
5. Submit. You'll get a confirmation with a QR code by email. Screenshot it as well, because airport Wi-Fi isn't something you want to depend on.

Travelling as a family or a group? Each person needs their own declaration, kids included. Check the portal for how it handles groups when you fill it in.

Island hopping and the "booking" question

This is where budget travellers get nervous. The rules mention a "prepaid confirmed booking at a registered facility". But what if you're planning two nights here, three nights there, and you haven't booked everything?

Here's how we'd handle it:

• Book your first stop properly, with a confirmation that shows the guesthouse name and island. That's what goes on your IMUGA form and what you show if you're asked.
• Book registered tourist guesthouses. Places listed on the big booking sites are normally registered with the Ministry of Tourism. Staying with "a friend of a friend" in a private house isn't a tourist booking.
• Have proof of funds anyway, like a bank card and a recent statement on your phone. The UK-based Maldives High Commission mentions at least US$100 plus US$50 per day as the benchmark if you don't have a hotel booking. We'd still book at least the first night.
• Keep your return ticket handy. It's the thing officers most often look at.

If you're doing a multi-island trip, our island comparison can help you pick a first stop. If you land late, the Hulhumalé stopover guide covers the first night.

At the airport

At Velana, you walk off the plane, follow signs for arrivals, and queue for immigration. Have your passport, IMUGA QR code, return ticket and accommodation confirmation ready on your phone (and ideally printed). The officer scans, stamps your 30 days, and you're through to bags and customs.

After customs you come out into the arrivals hall. ATMs and exchange counters are there, and so are the speedboat company reps. If your guesthouse booked your boat, look for their sign or the operator's staff. Our getting around guide explains the boats.

Customs: what not to pack

This catches people out more than the visa. Bags get X-rayed on arrival. Things that get taken off you:

• Alcohol. All of it, including duty-free bought on the way. It's held at the airport and you can collect it on departure, usually for a storage fee, within 30 days. Alcohol is only legal on resorts and safari boats, not on local islands. More in our local island rules.
• Vapes and e-cigarettes. Banned since late 2024 for everyone, visitors included. You won't be refused entry, but customs keeps it and gives you a receipt to collect it when you leave. You can't use one anywhere in the country.
• Pork products, and things with pork in them.
• Pornography in any form.
• Religious items meant for spreading or public worship, and idols of worship. Personal items like a cross you wear are generally fine.
• Drugs. Zero tolerance, with very serious penalties. Bring prescription meds in their original packaging with the prescription or a doctor's letter.
• Drones without a permit can be held too.

On tobacco: tourists can bring in up to 200 cigarettes, or 25 cigars, or 250 g of tobacco, with no duty-free allowance. And since 1 November 2025 there's a generational ban. Anyone born on or after 1 January 2007 can't buy or use tobacco in the Maldives, and that includes visitors.

Staying longer

Fell in love with island life? You can extend a tourist visa so your total stay is up to 90 days, including the first 30. Since 23 April 2026, Maldives Immigration has simplified this. You log into the IMUGA portal, most of your details fill in automatically, you upload a passport photo taken within the last 12 months, and you update your accommodation if it's changed. Immigration says applications should be processed within about 48 hours.

Apply well before your 30 days run out. Overstaying is taken seriously. We couldn't find the current extension fee published in English, so check it in the portal when you apply.

Leaving: departure fee

There's an airport departure tax and development fee for foreign travellers, US$50 in economy after a law passed in late 2024 raised it, and more in business and first. It's almost always included in your airline ticket, so you usually won't pay anything at the airport. Just don't be surprised when you see it in the fare breakdown.

The other money stuff, like the 17% tourism GST and the Green Tax on accommodation, is covered in what a budget day actually costs.