ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka cannot immediately resume online visa issuance under the old system as ordered by court as the Immigration Department’s computer system has been changed to new procedures and fees, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said.
Sri Lanka’s supreme court suspended a controversial deal with IVS-GBS and VFS Global where big fees were charged from tourists to use what the industry said was a complex user-unfriendly system that was putting off visitors.
When the VFS Global system started in April 2024, additional visa categories which were gazette with higher fees were introduced and the back end of the Immigration Department was also changed, Minister Alles said.
Mobitel, a Sri Lanka-based telecom company that operated the old system had also said they can immediately resume only the old categories, Minister Alles said. The court also ordered that the the system revert to the earlier status quo.
Sri Lanka gazetted higher visa fees in 2023, but the fees were not charged till the VFS system went online in April.
However, to do that the back-end of the immigration system had to be changed and it could take even take “months”, Minister Alles asid.
“We will have to explain this to court,” According to Minister Alles.
Authorities had sought the advice of the Attorney General on the matter he said.
But the representative of Immigration Department were not able to explain matters to court on the day the decision was given, he said. The Supreme Court gave an interim order to revert to the old system until the hearing was concluded.
Mobitel had also informed the Department of Immigration that they got the notice to appear in court after the decision was delivered, he said.
The travel trade has complained that tourists were finding the VFS Global difficult to navigate and they were choosing other countries where entry was easier.
Western tourists in particular can without visa’s to many countries that have become top travel destinations. (Colombo/Aug09/2024)