to go or not to go Maldives as Expat

I can only offer you advice from my experience. I bought into a business in Male' and moved over there to work with my Maldivian partners....i paid for everything, every time we went out, computers, phones, fridges, coffee machine restaurants etc etc etc, all of which was supposed to be paid back over time. I had to come back home to Australia for a quick trip and whilst i was back home i received an email from my Maldivian partners telling me that if i didnt put in an extra 50,000 US the partnership would be  dissolved.  Their business was quite small and was not worth an extra 50K as i had already put in around that amount to start with. I requested financials which they provided and showed they were trading insolvent....anyway long story short....the business was terminated and when i asked for my investment back they told me that "The Maldives" is a law to themselves and good luck getting my money. I checked with various debt collection agencies and they basically told me the same "good luck getting my money back" this has left a very bitter taste in my mouth and since then doing my own due diligence have found that it is a common occurrence over there. They will take your money and sit in restaurants and show off to their friends but when it comes time for them to pay ....they go running. i cannot contact them any more as they do not respond to any communication i try to have with them....and i have lost a lot of money to them....DO NOT TRUST THEM WITH MONEY....they will ripp you off....i was also informed not to go there to fight it out in court as once again they will win whether they are in the rite or not...If on the other hand you are contracted to work for them without you having to come up with money , could be  different case....Thats my experience anyway

My (professional) experience in the Maldives wasn't too great either. I'm not sure if I would do it again, as there's both positive and negative sides to living and working here. Male' is a pretty boring, small city. There's not a lot happening here.

I can only suggest doing it if you are a beach and water sports person (join a resort then) or if you get a job that you feel really passionate about (and try to become a workaholic). I just hope that if you choose the latter, that you'll be able to join a decent company, as there are many, many incompetently run firms around here.