News
Residence visas for foreigners: SIS clearance needed
Clearance from the State Intelligence Service (SIS) will be required to obtain residence visas for foreigners, the Government has decided.
Accordingly, those applying for residence visas for any category will have to be cleared by the SIS in contrast to the existing system where the line Ministry and the Defence Ministry clear the visas.
The move is among a series of measures being introduced by the Immigration Department to tighten visa procedures amidst fresh reports that there are, at least, 1000 foreigners overstaying their visas.
A senior immigration official said the procedure of seeking SIS clearance would be useful as they would be checking with international agencies including Interpol for persons who may already have been blacklisted. He said the department had also urged the government to review the visa policy towards Maldivians and Egyptians covered under existing agreements. He said that at present, some of the Maldivians arrived on visit visas and thereafter applied for residence visas.
Under the new arrangements, the Maldivians too would have to get SIS clearance if they wished to apply for residence visas.
He said that, according to latest statistics, there were around 200 foreigners, including people from Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Iran and Saudi Arabia involved in religious work after obtaining visas on the recommendations of the Muslim Affairs Ministry.
In a related move, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has directed the Home Affairs Ministry to introduce a better monitoring system on detecting people overstaying visas and detecting any blacklisted persons who may have entered the country.
Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardena told the Sunday Times that in two weeks, they would be submitting a report to the cabinet on his recommendations about the implementation of the proposals.
He said the Maldives had proposed that its government provide full data of its citizens arriving in Sri Lanka, enabling the authorities to ensure that persons blacklisted could not enter the country.
This issue was taken up during discussions with Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid who was in Sri Lanka.
He said that at present there were about 8,000 Maldivian students in Sri Lanka. Some are with their parents.