A proposal approved by the former Cabinet led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to grant free visas to tourists from 35 countries by October 1 will not proceed, as it was not authorized before Parliament was dissolved this week. Authorities are currently assessing whether President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has the authority to issue a directive to implement the Cabinet’s decision, according to Priyantha Fernando, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
The 35 countries included in the proposal are Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Notably, the seven countries previously designated for free visas—China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan—will continue to qualify for this benefit.
In related news, the SLTMobitel-operated electronic travel authorization (ETA) system was reinstated this week following a legal dispute concerning the Department of Immigration and Emigration’s 12-year outsourcing contract for online visa processing. This contract was held by a joint venture including Singapore-registered GBS Technology Services, UAE-registered IVS Global-FZCO, and Dubai-based VFS VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd.
According to available data, approximately 310,000 one-month tourist visas (not on-arrival) have been issued through the VFS system since April 16 of this year, alongside around 52,000 six-month tourist visas. In total, nearly 380,000 visas have been issued across 13 categories.
