# Maldives Visa: The Free On-Arrival Stamp Explained > No visa to apply for: the Maldives stamps a free 30-day visa on arrival for nearly everyone. The one pre-flight task is the free IMUGA form — and its timing. Source: https://luxatolls.com/journal/maldives-visa/ · Last updated: 2026-10-18 · Language: en · Prices in US dollars (USD) unless stated otherwise --- Planning · Visas # Do You Need a Visa for the Maldives? The *Honest* Answer No application, no fee, no embassy — the Maldives stamps a free 30-day visa on arrival for almost everyone. The only thing that needs doing before you fly is one free online form, and there's a catch in its timing. MALDIVES · By [Tym Lewtak](https://luxatolls.com/about/) · 18 October 2026 · 5 min read *No visa to arrange in advance — the Maldives stamps a free 30-day permit into your passport on arrival. The only pre-trip paperwork is the free online IMUGA declaration.* **Here is the rare bit of travel admin that turns out to be no admin at all:** for the overwhelming majority of nationalities, there is nothing to apply for, nothing to pay, and no embassy to visit before flying to the Maldives. The country's own immigration service puts it flatly — "foreigners traveling to Maldives as tourists do not require pre-approval." You arrive, you queue, and a free thirty-day visa is stamped into your passport at the counter. The whole anxious genre of visa research that precedes most long-haul trips simply does not apply here. That said, "no visa" is not the same as "nothing to do." There is exactly one piece of pre-departure paperwork that genuinely matters, a few real conditions sitting behind the stamp, and a couple of edge cases worth knowing so you are not the person turned back at check-in. The honest version is reassuring, but it is not blank. ## The short answer: no advance visa, no fee The Maldives operates a visa-on-arrival system that is about as frictionless as they come. Land at Velana International, hand over your passport, and immigration issues a thirty-day tourist visa *free of charge* — there is no tourist-entry fee to enter the country, no e-visa to buy in advance, and no sticker to chase through a consulate at home. This applies, in practice, to essentially every nationality arriving as a tourist. The mental model most travellers carry from other destinations — apply online, pay, wait, print — is the wrong model here. The Maldives decided long ago that the simplest way to run a tourism economy was to let the tourists in. The only meaningful exception to "everyone gets in" is a political one. **Since 15 April 2025, entry is not granted on Israeli passports**, a restriction introduced by the third amendment to the Immigration Act and described officially as a temporary measure tied to the war in Gaza. It remains in force until further notice. Beyond that single carve-out, the door is open and the stamp is automatic. ## The one form you must do before you fly If there is a single thing to put on your to-do list, it is the **IMUGA Traveller Declaration** — the online self-declaration every arriving traveller is required to submit through the official portal at imuga.immigration.gov.mv. This is not the visa, and it is not a charge dressed up as one: the official portal states plainly that there are no fees for submitting the form. The visa itself is still issued at the immigration counter; IMUGA is simply the arrival declaration that has to be lodged first. The timing has a quirk that catches people out. The declaration must go in *within* ninety-six hours — four days — before your flight, and that window has a floor as well as a ceiling: submit too early and the system rejects it. So the correct move is to do it in the few days immediately before departure, not the week before when you are feeling organised. And one warning the official portal makes itself: a small industry of third-party sites charges fees to "process" this free form. They are not the government, and you do not need them. Go straight to the official IMUGA portal and pay nothing. > IMUGA is not the visa, and it is not a fee dressed up as one — it is a free declaration, and the only people charging for it are not the government. ## What you actually need at immigration Behind the easy stamp sit a handful of real conditions, and the first one corrects a myth half the internet repeats. Your passport does **not** need six months of validity. The official requirement is a passport with a Machine Readable Zone and *at least one month* of validity from your arrival date — a figure the UK's own foreign-travel advice confirms word for word. That is the legal rule. The practical caveat is that airlines and check-in agents frequently enforce a stricter buffer of their own, often the customary six months, and they can refuse to board you on their own policy regardless of what Maldivian law says. Know the real rule, but do not pick a fight with a check-in desk over a passport that expires next month. The other listed conditions are a confirmed onward or return ticket, a prepaid confirmed booking at a registered facility — a resort, hotel or guesthouse — and sufficient funds to cover your stay, or a pre-approved sponsor. These are genuine, officially published requirements, so it is worth being able to show them. In honesty, though, for anyone landing with a confirmed resort reservation they are rarely scrutinised; the booking that brought you here usually answers all three questions at once. Worth having ready, not worth losing sleep over. (The one health document to flag: a yellow-fever vaccination certificate is required only if you are arriving from — or have recently transited — a country on the transmission-risk list. It is not a general entry condition.) ## Staying longer, and the edge cases Thirty days suits almost every holiday, but the visa can be extended. The total stay caps at **ninety days** — that is the initial thirty plus a single extension of sixty — and the application has to be made *before* your original visa expires, with the same proof of funds and confirmed accommodation behind it. There is a small fee for the extension; rather than print a figure we cannot verify against a primary government source, we would point you to Maldives Immigration for the current amount. Leave the request until after the stamp lapses and you have a different, less pleasant conversation on your hands. Two last edge cases reward a careful reader. The official rules carry a line stating that passengers with "extended validity" in their passports are not allowed to enter — this appears to target travel documents that have been manually extended rather than freshly issued, so if you hold an older hand-extended passport, check before you book. And the broader point: immigration rules here change, sometimes at short notice. The Israeli-passport restriction is itself a 2025 change, and emergency extension protocols surfaced in 2026 around regional flight disruptions. Whatever you read anywhere, including here, the genuine source of truth is the official portal at imuga.immigration.gov.mv on the day you travel. The visa, in other words, is the easy part — a free stamp and one free form stand between you and the lagoon. The more interesting logistical question is [how you actually get there](https://luxatolls.com/how-to-get-to-maldives/), from the long-haul routes into Malé to the seaplane and speedboat transfers that carry you the last leg to your island. Tym Lewtak Founder of LuxAtolls, an independent Maldives advisory covering every major resort. Previously Head of Online Marketing at Helloworld Travel. [More about LuxAtolls →](https://luxatolls.com/about/) Read next [Planning The Maldives on Points vs Amex FHR vs a Specialist Points can cover the villa, Fine Hotels + Resorts adds perks to a public rate, and a specialist bundles the parts neither touches. In the Maldives the difference is everything around the room: the seaplane, the meals and the taxes.](https://luxatolls.com/journal/maldives-on-points-vs-amex-fhr/) [Planning Planning a Maldives Trip from India The Maldives is closer to most of India than Goa is to Delhi by train. No visa to apply for, nonstop flights from five cities, and fares that fall to their lowest just as the dry season begins. Here's what actually matters when you plan it from home.](https://luxatolls.com/journal/maldives-trip-from-india/) [← All Journal stories](https://luxatolls.com/journal/)