The Maldives is one of the easiest countries in the world to enter — almost every nationality gets a free 30-day visa on arrival, no application required. Since April 2025 there is one exception, and it is absolute: holders of Israeli passports are barred from entering the country at all. If you travel on an Israeli passport, this is not a “harder visa” situation — it is a legal entry ban. Here is the verified, dated picture.
What the law actually says
On 16 April 2025 the President of the Maldives, Dr Mohamed Muizzu, ratified the Third Amendment to the Maldives Immigration Act (Law No. 01/2007), after the People’s Majlis (parliament) passed it on 15 April 2025. The amendment adds a new provision that expressly prohibits the entry of holders of Israeli passports into the territory of the Republic of Maldives. The government framed it as a response to the war in Gaza; the original bill had been introduced back in 2023 and went through a long series of revisions before passing.
Maldives Immigration — the government authority that runs the border — has since published a plain notice confirming that “entry into the Maldives is prohibited on Israeli passports.” This is the operative, official source travellers should rely on.
The one exception: dual nationals
The ban is tied to the travel document, not to a person’s background. The government clarified that individuals who hold dual nationality and travel on a non-Israeli passport remain eligible to visit the Maldives. In practice: if you are an Israeli–[other country] dual national, you can enter on your other valid passport under that country’s normal Maldives rules. If your only passport is Israeli, there is currently no entry route.
How this fits the Maldives’ wider visa policy
For everyone else the Maldives remains remarkably open: a free Visa on Arrival of up to 30 days is granted to all nationalities, subject only to a valid passport, a confirmed booking and an onward/return ticket (you complete the IMUGA arrival declaration online before you fly). The Israeli-passport ban is a single, carved-out exception to that otherwise universal welcome — which is exactly why it matters to get right rather than bury in a list. You can see the general rule on our Maldives Visa on Arrival page, and the ban itself on the Israel → Maldives page, which shows a sourced “travel not permitted” explanation instead of an “apply” button.
Part of a wider pattern
The Maldives is not alone: several states bar Israeli passport holders outright or have no diplomatic relations with Israel, and a few passports are even printed “not valid for travel to Israel”. We cover that whole picture — in both directions, including the Abraham Accords exceptions — in our companion piece, which passports can’t travel to Israel. The Israeli passport overview lists every destination we cover, with the Maldives flagged under “Travel Not Permitted”.
How we keep this honest
Entry bans are exactly the kind of fact that is dangerous to get wrong — telling someone to “apply for a visa” for a trip that is legally impossible is worse than unhelpful. So before any visa fields are shown, each page resolves the country-to-country relationship: where entry is not permitted, the page shows a sourced explanation and suppresses any fee, checklist or “apply” prompt, and we never publish structured data implying a visa is available. This measure is also volatile — it could be amended or lifted — so we date it and re-check it. More on our method is in our Editorial & Data Standards.