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This site says (emphasis mine):

According to the report to BBC, the President has left for the Maldives.

The Hindu newspaper revealed that the United States has rejected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s recent request for a visa to leave for the U.S.

How come the Maldives accepted Gotabaya Rajapaksa's visa, but not the USA?

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    If this forum does not answer then I suggest you try travel forum. I know it is a high-profile politician, but they just seem to know a lot about visas on the other forum.
    – Thomas Koelle
    Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 12:42
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    @o.m. there are certainly some questions and answers concerning diplomatic travel over at Travel. In this case, I don't know whether the president applied for a diplomatic visa or not, but I do know that if he applied for any other sort of visa it would be refused because a president is only eligible for a diplomatic visa. If he did apply for a diplomatic visa, well, the granting of such a visa is entirely a political decision, so in the absence of public statements from the US Department of State, all we can do is speculate.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 16:50
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    @phoog, depends on the country. In Germany, §23(1) AufenthG. Basically, "if they government wants somebody in, they can allow it regardless of the paperwork."
    – o.m.
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 6:49
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    @phoog In the US there is humanitarian parole
    – xyldke
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 8:14
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    The article quotes the "Hindu newspaper", maybe there is more information in that original article
    – xyldke
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 8:18

1 Answer 1

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One explanation could be that the Maldives are repaying an old favor. One of the earliest parties there was the MDP (Maldivian Democratic Party), who were officially founded in exile in Sri Lanka, being at the time banned in the Maldives. In particular, former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed was one of the founding members who at the time lived in Sri Lanka.

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  • This doesn't work unless it was a personal favor by the President
    – whoisit
    Commented Oct 28, 2022 at 8:39

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