Govt extends costly "free visa" facility despite opposition

Cabinet has rejected a request by the Department of Immigration and Emigration to not extend the "free visa" facility to tourists from 48 countries.  

A proposal to extend the free visa facility to visitors from these countries for a further three months from February 1 to April 30 was approved by Cabinet yesterday. 

The Immigration and Emigration Department though, had opposed the move to extend the facility, noting that it had resulted the department losing about Rs 1 billion a month, with total losses of approximately Rs 5.5 biillion up to date, sources told Times Online. 

The previous Government had given the free visa facility to tourists from 48 countries for a six month period effective from August 1, 2019. 

In deciding to extend the visa facility by a further six months, the new Government has stated that the move to provide free visas has resulted in a rise in tourists to Sri Lanka from these countries.