ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Public Security Minister Tiran Alles denied that VFS Global, a company linked to the island’s high priced visa fee controversy, had made a 10 million dollar campaign contribution.
“I saw something that VFS had given 10 million dollars for President Wickremesinghe’s election campaign,” Minister Alles told reporters Monday.
“I also saw today something that Sajith Premadasa had demanded money to stop talking about it. These are both wrong.
“Doing these things will not help the country. I am asking to tell the truth to educate the public.
“I do not take even 5 cents from anyone. The people in the country know that.”
Sri Lanka’s 50 dollar visa fee went up to 100 dollars with the shift to IVS-GBS-VFS Global, a private contractor, which is also operating an complicated online interface even seeking twitter handles of tourists.
Premadasa in an x.com post over weekend said the only thing that could explain the deal was “absolute corruption.”
The private firm is charging 18.5 dollar fee on top of the government charge, and a 7 dollar ‘convenience fee’ on top of that.
The 18.5 dollar fee adds up to about 40 million dollars for the projected 2.3 million tourists for 2024, and the convenience fee another 11 to 12 million dollars, depending on how many South Asian visitors come who get a cheaper visa.
However the travel trade has warned that the visa fees are higher than competition in East Asia.
The earlier 50 dollar fee was also higher than several East Asian countries, but the website was extremely user friendly and was described as painless in top travel reviews. (Colombo/May06/2024)