The online visa system in Sri Lanka, which prevailed before the controversial, costly and complicated VFS-facilitated online visa platform which has been discontinued, is expected to be reactivated by Mobitel at 12 midnight on September 26, or tomorrow morning.
This assurance was given by Mobitel to the Immigration Department in a letter sent today in this regard.
"As per the instructions received at the meeting today, we are currently carrying out testing in the live environment with all stakeholders. We will be ready to go live upon successful completion of testing at 12 midnight today (26.09.2024) as per the instructions given by you," the letter stated.
This came after the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Immigration Controller to be remanded for failing to execute a court order to restore the old e-visa system operates by Mobitel. The order is pursuant to petitions filed by the tourism industry and three former parliamentarians against the VFS platform, accusing it of charging high visa fees and allegedly a corrupt deal. The Immigration Controller is believed to be abroad.
The letter also noted that since yesterday that Mobitel has been in contact with Informatics, Sampath Bank, Nations Trusts Bank and ICTA to ensure the restoration of the ETA system which was suspended in April 2024 and replaced with the VFS scheme.
In this respect the letter stated that Mobitel together with the other stakeholders "are taking necessary actions to reintegrate and test ETA Frontend System with backend service provider and banks. (SD)
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