Investment

Foreign investments are governed by the Law on Foreign Investments (Law No: 25/79) and companies Act (Law No: 10/96) or the Partnership Act (13/2011).

There are three ways in which you may register your investment in the Maldives;

A new company/partnership

• This could be a Joint Venture or a 100% foreign investment

Share transfer

• From a locally registered company/partnership (this could be a Joint Venture or a 100% foreign investment)

Re-register

• This is to register as already existing foreign company in Maldives

The screening process includes a standard due diligence (conducting a local police screening of all investors, determine the financial standing of the shareholders through a bank reference, a background check of the investors), and seek the opinion of the related sector.At present all foreign investment proposals submitted are reviewed internally by Ministry of Economic Development. All foreign investments have to be approved by the Ministry of Economic Development.

Each case is reviewed based on its merits and other factors such as the number of existing investors in the area, the employment and technology transfer opportunities presented.

The standard processing time is 3 working days, however, in cases where the Economic Development Ministry requests for further clarification, maximum 10-14 days may be required to process the application.