Sri Lanka Enhances Tourism: Eliminates Visa Fees and Restores Online Application Process for Travelers

Sri Lanka Enhances Tourism: Sri Lanka restores online visa process and removes fees for travelers

The government of Sri Lanka has restored an online visa application platform to enhance tourism following a Supreme Court ruling against a disputed outsourcing deal.
Sri Lanka reopened an online visa application platform Friday to boost tourism after its top court suspended a contentious, multimillion-dollar deal that outsourced visa processing to a foreign consortium. The government of newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said late Thursday the move was meant to boost the island nation's key tourism sector as its economy limps out of the 2022 financial crisis.

Tourists will be able to apply for a visa online without paying the $25 charged by India-based VFS Global, which won an outsourcing contract in April from the previous government. Rights activists had alleged in court that the contract was not awarded transparently and said the consortium stood to earn up to $2.75 billion over a 16-year period. In August, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ordered immigration authorities to revert back to the previous online platform that existed prior to the award of the tender to VFS.

Sri Lanka Goes Back to Online Visa Platform.

The facility of getting visas through VFS Global has caused serious issues for many," his office said in a statement Thursday, adding that foreigners had faced challenges obtaining visas. On Wednesday, immigration chief Harsha Ilukpitiya was arrested for failing to heed the Supreme Court's decision.

Ilukpitiya had awarded the multimillion-dollar contract to India's GBS Technology Services and IVS Global FZCO, along with VFS Global as a partner, to process visa applications from April. "We have initiated an immediate forensic audit to investigate the irregularities associated with the VFS Global," the president's office said Friday. "Any discrepancies found will be subject to legal action.