A bill has been submitted to Parliament seeking to allow individuals who own land or housing on an island to transfer their island residency immediately, without having to meet the current five-year residency requirement.

The bill, submitted by Galolhu North Member of Parliament Mohamed Ibrahim, proposes amendments to the Maldivian Citizenship Act governing island residency registration. Under the current law, individuals must reside on an island for at least five years before they can change their registered place of residency.

The proposed amendment would introduce additional avenues for changing residency. Under the bill, individuals who acquire legal ownership or rights to a plot of land, house, flat or other habitable property on another island through a government housing scheme, inheritance, purchase or a court ruling would be eligible to apply for an immediate transfer of residency.

Applicants would be required to submit official documents proving their ownership or legal entitlement to the property. Once the documents are verified, the individual would be registered as a resident of the new island.

The bill also states that an individual's name must be removed from the registry of their previous island of residency upon approval of the transfer. Individuals would not be permitted to hold residency registrations on more than one island at the same time.