Maldives is facing shortage of US$ these days. Most of the expatriate working in Maldives is paid in Maldivian Rufeeya and to send money home, now most of the banks and other money transfer facilities like Moneygram, Cash Xpress are asking the sender to pay in US dollars. Western Union has closed down and no longer providing the service

Earlier the sender could pay in Maldivian Rufeeya. Even to buy dollars from bank is something impossible these days and Bank of Maldives has restricted the sale of US$ to US$ 100 per day per person. Foreigners working in Maldives has different methods to send money home, but most of them are facing problems due to acute shortage of US dollars. The business people in Maldives are also facing big problem in transferring money to their suppliers and its very crucial in Maldives as Maldives imports almost everything. Hope this will be sorted out soon.

Western Union Money transfer system was the one of the most popular money transfer system for the expatriates working in Maldives. Now for the past 10 days the Western Union Office is closed.

The exact reason is not known to me, some say its because of lack of foreign exchange. The agency is run by Mr Gasim of Villa group who was the finance ministry before the elections were held for the the new President of Maldives. Now there is a scarcity of US$ in Maldives, may be the reason could be right.

If you have any idea, please update.

Transferring Money from Maldives to their home is one of the basic requirement for the expatriates working in Maldives. I had written about Western Union few months ago which is one of the most popular and widely used by the expatriates in Maldives.

Today I was in Maldives post for some personal work and I could see lot of expatriates there sending money using Xpress Money which is similar method like the Western Union.

You can go the Maldives Post office which is near the Local Market. You need to just walk in and fill up the form to send money. You need to carry your work permit card in case of a Expatriate. You will receive a pin which you should inform the recipient of the money. The best way is to send an SMS. The recipient should go to a post office with an identity proof and collect the money. Its very simple and takes only minutes. The charges to send money to India is just US$ 8 for a maximum amount of US$ 3000.

There are good number of expatriates working in Maldives and they need to send money home. There are different ways to send money to your home country. Different methods have advantages and disadvantages, but you need to decide which method you should opt.

1. Demand Draft
2. Telegraphic Transfer
3. Western Union
4. Money Gram
5. By Cash

Demand draft is the most preferred method for most of the expatriates working in Maldives. The commission rate is less and you can request for a DD in your local currency. The disadvantage of this method is that you need to send the DD to your bank or home by post or somebody travelling to your home country.

Telegraphic transfer is fast and you get the funds credited within 24 to 72 hours depending on the bank and working days. To send money through TT, you need to know your banks, correspondent bank, SWIFT code which you can get from your bank in your country. The disadvantage of this method is that you need to pay more commission for the transfer

Western Union in Maldives is most preferred for people who need to send money to their country in minutes and the commission is very less. The biggest advantage is the receiver get the money in minutes. You need to inform the receiver, the secret transaction number which the receiver needs to provide to claim the money. The process is very simple, just go to the Western Union office and fill up the form. You can pay either in US$ or MRF.

Money Gram is similar to Western Union, the only difference I see is that in Money gram, the funds are transferred to a particular branch and in Western Union, you can collect from any branch. Money Gram Facility is available in Maldives Post Office

Sending money by cash is a risky way, but sometimes we need to do that. You need to buy US Dollars or Euros for this purpose.

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Hope you have heard about Western Union Money Transfer . If you want to urgently send money to somebody abroad, just go to your nearest Western Union counter and fill up the form and pay. You will be provided with a copy of the form you submit with a unique Number. Call or SMS the person to whom you send the money and give him / her the unique number. The person at the receiving end has to go to the nearest Western union counter and collect the money proving his / her identity, it would take not more than 10 minutes. Transfer is done online and its instant.

At Maldives, Villa Group is the authorized agent for Western Union. They have an excellent set up with more than 10 counters. There are lots of expatriates working in Maldives and use this facility to transfer money to their home country.

Advantages

• Instant Transfer
• Time saving
• No Bank account needed
• No chances of missing Demand Draft’s
• Can transfer online using Credit card (Limited Countries only, Not available in Maldives)

Dis-Advantages

• Less conversion rate
• Cannot transfer to Bank account (But in some countries this facility is available, not in Maldives)
• Money cannot be send from India using Western union, but can receive