Financial Times

Hong Kong vows to make it easier for Sri Lankan travellers
By Lashica Abeywickrama
Hong Kong authorities last week assured a Sri Lankan delegation that genuine travellers from Sri Lanka won’t any more be harassed, as the case has been in recent months.

The delegation led by Dr.Rohan Perera , Legal Advisor to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and including C. A. Fonseka, Deputy Controller, Department of Immigration and Emigration and representatives of travel and garment industry segments, met immigration and other officials in a bid to ease restrictions on travel to Hong Kong.

Business travellers who travel regularly to Hong Kong and other countries have also been among Sri Lankans who have had to face the ignominy of being delayed at the airport for several hours and questioned, even if they have a valid visa.

Under the new arrangements, according to members of the delegation, business travellers with valid visas to USA, UK, and Canada etc. will not be questioned or delayed at the Hong Kong immigration if he or she has a legitimate visa in visiting Hong Kong.

Also any businessmen who visit Hong Kong regularly will travel under a Multiple entry visa with a validity of two to three years. In a statement to its members, the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association said Ajith Dias, Chairman of the association’s Sub committee on Bilateral and Multilateral Initiatives was a member of the delegation that visited Hong Kong to discuss issues pertaining to visas to Hong Kong for Sri Lankan nationals.

It said some of the decisions taken included:
1) Transit – a traveller who has a valid visa and an onward ticket to a 3rd country could arrive in Hong Kong airport without a Hong Kong visa, provided his transit stay is not longer than 12 hours while any person visiting China will need a transit visa for Hong Kong.

2) Multiple Entry visas – It has been arranged that business persons who have business in Hong Kong and need to visit regularly could apply and obtain a Multiple Entry visa valid for 2-3 years, provided the application is made directly to the Hong Kong Immigration authorities. This process will take 3-4 weeks and it has been suggested that the required documents be sent to Hong Kong and once the visa is ready, it could be stamped in Hong Kong. Until such time the Multiple entry visa is ready, there is no bar on applying for a single entry visa from the Chinese embassy, which is the current practice.

Ever since Sri Lankans were required to get a visa from the local Chinese embassy to visit Hong Kong against a simplified visa-on-arrival practice that prevailed earlier, travellers have had to undergo difficulties. This has also affected airlines, particularly Cathy Pacific, and travel agents promoting Hong Kong as a tourist destination.

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s national airline and facilitator of the Sri Lanka delegation, said in a statement after the visit that it will assist Sri Lankan authorities continuously in encouraging holiday travel by genuine visitors to Hong Kong. Hong Kong immigration has agreed in provision of multiple-entry visas for eligible business travellers. “We are in the process of making arrangements to escort all Sri Lankan transit passengers. The travellers who fly on our airlines to selected destinations via Hong Kong are able to transit without the visa facility,” said Edward Higgs, Country Manager, Cathay Pacific Airlines, in the statement.

The Sunday Times FT exclusively reported the problems faced by travellers to Hong Kong and the scheduled visit of the Sri Lankan delegation.
That story quoted a travel industry analyst as saying a lot of Sri Lankans were reluctant to travel to Hong Kong due to the cumbersome process resulting in a decrease in the number of travellers to that country.

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