News
Online visa process suspended by SC
View(s):- Court orders Immigration Dept. to cancel VFS tender, revert to old system
By Namini Wijedasa
However, the Immigration Department yesterday notified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that tourists could once again obtain visas through Sri Lanka’s overseas missions and on-arrival at the points of entry, Immigration Controller General I.S.H.J. Illukpitiya told the Sunday Times.
The same is possible for business travellers who had also earlier benefited from online visa approvals.
This procedure is effective immediately until further notice, the Department has said, adding that all possible efforts will be made to “restore the process at the earliest.”
On Friday, Justices P. Padman Surasena (presiding), Kumudini Wickremasinghe and Achala Wengappuli also suspended the Cabinet decision to award the 12-year deal. Additionally, the relevant respondents were directed to take steps to maintain the status quo ante as of April 16 this year before the new VFS system came into operation. The interim orders remain effective till the Court’s final determination.
Yesterday, the Department’s official e-visa website (srilankaevisa.lk) had an announcement stating: “We have been notified of certain interim orders issued by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka today pertaining to the agreement under which this platform is operated. In view of these orders, the website is suspended effective 2 August at 17:00 hours Sri Lanka Standard Time. Please visit https://www.immigration.gov.lk/index_e.php for any further information.” Those who applied for visas after 5pm on Friday, Sri Lanka time, will receive a refund.
Before VFS took over, SLT-Mobitel ran the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) platform, issuing two categories of visas: 30-day, double entry tourist visa and 30-day, double entry business visa (extendable up to 90 days). Since then, however, the number of visa categories has been increased to 14, gazetted and approved in parliament.
Asked what the next steps would be, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles—under whose purview the Immigration Department comes—said yesterday, “Must wait and see.”
“At the moment, no one can get online, only on-arrival,” he said. The previous ETA system run by SLT-Mobitel cannot be restored as “now we have changed everything, including the laws, and these (new) categories were passed in parliament and gazetted.”
If the previous party is to run the system again, “they have to be able to do the whole thing, they must come up with a platform and if they can start tomorrow, they can start.”
Minister Alles also said the Immigration Department did not need to help beyond providing connectivity. It was not immediately clear how soon SLT-Mobitel would be able to get a system running. Requests for comment were declined. Technical sources pointed out, however, that to integrate the new visa categories, the company is likely to have to cooperate with the Immigration Department.
The travel trade, which has been heavily critical of the new system run by VFS, urged the Immigration Department to open more counters to issue on-arrival visas. The next tourist season will start in mid-August and peak in November, with an estimated 20,000 arrivals a day.
Yesterday, the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO)—one of the parties that petitioned the Supreme Court against the VFS deal—and the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) issued an update to the industry on the e-visa situation.
They notified overseas tour operators and potential visitors that, in the absence of a functioning online visa platform, they could use the on-arrival visa facility at the airport at the same e-visa fee of US$ 50.
“The court order further stated that the ETA system that was in operation prior to mid-April 2024 be restored and made available for obtaining ETA or Electronic Travel Authorisations, until further notice,” they said. “We anticipate that the said ETA system will be up and running within the course of next week.”
On-arrival visas are not available to nationals of Afghanistan, Syria, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, North Korea and Myanmar. Applicants from these countries can now lodge their applications with the Immigration Department head office through a representative.
Eight petitions were granted leave to proceed by the Supreme Court on Friday, all of them filed in the public interest on the basis, among other things, that the VFS deal was entered into outside of procurement procedure, caused a financial loss to Sri Lanka and negatively impacted the tourist trade.
(Please see Page 14 for relevant story)
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