Please be informed that pursuant to the announcement of the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Maldives dated January 04th, 2016 all non machine readable passports will not be accepted for entry into Maldives with immediate effect. This is in accordance with Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention as described below:
ICAO Annex 9 (Facilitation) to the Chicago Convention stipulates that all passports issued by Contracting States shall be machine readable and Contracting states shall ensure that the expiration date of all non machine readable passports issued after 24th November 2005 falls before 24th November 2015.
The related ICAO Standards on Machine Readable Travel Documents are as follows;
Standard 3.10 of ICAO Annex 9: All passports issued by Contracting States shall be machine readable in accordance with the specifications of Doc 9303, Part 1.
Standard 3.10.1 of ICAO Annex 9: For passports issued after 24 November 2005 and which are not machine readable, Contracting States shall ensure the expiration date falls before 24 November 2015.
