LeVar Thomas
Every traveller arriving in the Maldives must submit a Traveller Declaration on IMUGA, the Maldives Immigration portal at imuga.immigration.gov.mv, within 96 hours before their flight arrives. The declaration is free, it is filed online, one per traveller including children, and it is separate from the visa: most visitors still receive a free 30-day tourist visa on arrival, provided they meet the entry conditions. This guide explains the 96-hour window, what the form asks, what immigration requires alongside it and how to avoid the lookalike sites that charge for a free government form.
Quick Facts
- Form: Maldives Traveller Declaration, submitted on the IMUGA portal
- Official site only: imuga.immigration.gov.mv, run by Maldives Immigration
- Filing window: Within 96 hours (4 days) before your flight arrives in the Maldives
- Cost: Free. Maldives Immigration charges no fee for the declaration
- Who files: Every arriving traveller, including children and minors, one declaration each
- Visa: A free tourist visa of up to 30 days is issued on arrival to visitors who meet the entry requirements; no pre-approval is needed for tourists
- Passport: Machine readable, with at least 1 month of validity from arrival, per Maldives Immigration
- Also required: Confirmed return or onward ticket, a prepaid confirmed booking at a registered facility, and sufficient funds for the stay, or an approved sponsorship
What is IMUGA, and what is the Traveller Declaration?
IMUGA is the online border system of Maldives Immigration, and the Traveller Declaration is its arrival form: a self-declaration covering your identity, travel, accommodation, health and customs information, which replaced the paper arrival card. Maldives Immigration’s IMUGA portal describes the declaration as mandatory and gives the rule travellers plan around: all travellers must submit it within 96 hours before their flight time for arrival, free of charge. It is not a visa and it is not an approval to enter. It is the declaration immigration expects to already hold when you reach the desk at Velana International Airport, and airlines share responsibility for checking it, because carriers are expected to make sure passengers have submitted the declaration before boarding.
Because the declaration and the visa are different things, holding a completed IMUGA form does not replace the entry conditions, and meeting the entry conditions does not excuse you from filing. You need both halves: the declaration filed inside its window, and the documents that qualify you for the visa on arrival. Travellers who treat IMUGA as optional paperwork discover the mistake at check-in, where fixing it costs time and stress rather than money.
When exactly does the 96-hour window open?
The window is a window, with a start as well as an end. Maldives Immigration requires the declaration within 96 hours before arrival, which means a filing made five days before your flight is too early, just as a filing attempted after landing is too late. Count back four days from your scheduled arrival time in the Maldives and file once you are inside that period, ideally on the first day it opens rather than at the departure gate. Filing early in the window leaves room to correct a mistyped passport number or a wrong flight detail while you still have time, and the portal allows a submitted declaration to be retrieved and verified, so keep your confirmation and its QR code reachable on your phone and in your email.
Every traveller files individually. A family of four submits four declarations, including one for each child and minor, because the declaration attaches to a passport, not to a booking. Parents complete the forms for their children using the child’s own passport details. If your itinerary involves a long layover, work from your Maldives arrival time, not your departure time from home, because the 96 hours runs against the flight that lands in the Maldives. The IMUGA portal also covers departure formalities, and its guidance frames the declaration around both arrival and departure, so before you fly home, recheck the portal for what, if anything, it asks of departing travellers on your travel date.
What do you need besides the declaration?
Maldives Immigration states that tourists do not require pre-approval, and that a tourist visa is granted on arrival when the basic entry requirements are met. Those requirements, as immigration lists them, are a machine readable passport or travel document with at least one month of validity, confirmed return journey tickets, a prepaid confirmed booking at a registered facility for the stay, and sufficient funds to cover the stay, or a sponsorship approved by immigration. The visa is free and runs up to 30 days. Travellers who want longer apply for an extension through the IMUGA portal before the first visa expires, rather than overstaying and resolving it at the airport.
Two practical warnings follow from that list. First, the registered-booking condition means your accommodation should be a resort, hotel, guesthouse or vessel that is properly registered, and the booking should cover your stay; arriving with a vague plan to find somewhere is not what the rule describes. Second, the one-month passport rule is the Maldivian legal minimum, but airlines frequently apply their own stricter document checks at check-in. A passport with generous validity beyond your trip removes that argument entirely, and it is far easier to renew at home than to debate document policy at a departure desk. For a sense of how a resort stay fits these rules, see our guide to Soneva Fushi in the Maldives, and for another arrival-system explainer, our guide to the Australia ETA app shows how a different country runs the same official-portal logic.
How do you complete the declaration, step by step?
Open the IMUGA portal directly and start a new Traveller Declaration. Work through the sections in order: your personal and passport details exactly as printed in the document, your arrival flight and date, where you are staying in the Maldives, and the health and customs declarations the form presents. Answer the customs questions honestly and read them rather than tapping through, because the declaration is a legal statement to immigration, not a marketing signup. Submit, then save the confirmation. If the portal sends a verification code to your email as part of the process, use an address you can open on the device in your hand, not one locked behind a computer at home.
Then verify what you filed. Check the passport number character by character, because that string is what links your declaration to the document you hand over on arrival, and a single transposed digit can make a completed declaration hard to match at the desk. If you spot an error, use the portal’s own route to retrieve and correct the declaration inside the window, rather than filing duplicates and hoping the right one wins.
Why should you never pay for the IMUGA form?
Because the real one is free, and Maldives Immigration says so plainly. Immigration strongly advises travellers to use the IMUGA portal and to avoid other websites that may charge a fee for submitting this declaration. Lookalike sites copy the form’s name, rank in search results and charge a processing fee for typing your details into the same free government system. The protection is the domain: the declaration lives at imuga.immigration.gov.mv, a Maldives government address. Any site asking for card payment to file your Traveller Declaration is not the portal, whatever its design suggests. Close it and start again at the official address.
Frequently Asked Questions
How early can I submit the IMUGA Traveller Declaration?
Within 96 hours before your flight arrives in the Maldives, and not earlier. The window opens four days before arrival; file once you are inside it, ideally straight away, so mistakes can be corrected in time.
Does the IMUGA declaration cost anything?
No. Maldives Immigration states there are no fees for submitting the Traveller Declaration through the official IMUGA portal. Sites that charge for it are third parties, and immigration advises avoiding them.
Do children need their own declaration?
Yes. Every traveller, including children and minors, needs an individual declaration filed on their own passport details. Parents complete the form on the child’s behalf.
Is the Traveller Declaration a visa?
No. It is an arrival self-declaration. The tourist visa itself, free and for up to 30 days, is issued on arrival to travellers who meet the entry requirements, and tourists do not need visa pre-approval.
What documents does immigration require on arrival?
A machine readable passport with at least 1 month of validity, confirmed return journey tickets, a prepaid confirmed booking at a registered facility, and sufficient funds for the stay, or an approved sponsorship, per Maldives Immigration.
What if I submit the declaration too early?
A filing outside the 96-hour window does not satisfy the requirement. Wait until the window opens for your arrival flight and submit inside it, then keep the confirmation and QR code ready for check-in and immigration.
Declaration window and entry requirements checked against Maldives Immigration and the IMUGA portal on 12 November 2026. Recheck imuga.immigration.gov.mv before filing, as entry rules can change.
