Fifteen days after Sri Lanka switched to a brand new visa-issuing system, authorities face backlash over increased visa prices that would deter vacationers, “Indian involvement” and “corruption” within the minister in query’s try and outsource visa processing.
Beginning April 17, 2024, the Division of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka directed vacationers to a brand new visa portal, managed by VFS International, to use for visas on-line in varied classes. The beforehand used digital journey authorization system, identified for its velocity and accessibility, was scrapped.
The transfer adopted a Cupboard determination final yr, based mostly on a proposal by Public Safety Minister Tiran Alles, to nominate GBS Know-how Companies & IVS International – FZCO and VFS International as approved brokers for the web submission of functions for visa for foreigners visiting Sri Lanka. The three corporations later shaped a consortium and signed an settlement with Sri Lankan authorities, based on officers.
With the introduction of the brand new system, the Sri Lanka visa price nearly doubled, together with the introduction of an $18.5 service price and a $5 comfort price charged by VFS International. Whilst customers identified the absence of a 30-day, single-entry vacationer visa possibility, a current video recording of a Sri Lankan customer complaining that “Indians” have been dealing with visa issuance on the Worldwide Airport Bandaranaike in Colombo sparked a brand new controversy. The video of the indignant man went viral, prompting the Indian Excessive Fee in Colombo to make clear that the businesses concerned “will not be based mostly in India nor are they Indian and are headquartered elsewhere.” “Any reference to India on this context is unwarranted,” mentioned an announcement issued on Could 2.
GBS Know-how Companies is headquartered in Singapore and is related to IVS International Companies, an organization included in Maharashtra in 2010. IVS, now a world supplier of expertise and outsourcing providers, additionally processes Indian visa functions from Sri Lankan residents. . Based in India in 2001, VFS International is presently headquartered in Zurich and Dubai, and was acquired by US personal fairness agency Blackstone in 2021.
These working in Sri Lanka’s essential tourism business see the sharp rise in visa charges in battle with the federal government’s acknowledged purpose of driving out vacationer arrivals. “From an industrial perspective, we now have no drawback choosing a technologically superior system. However we don’t perceive why the outdated system, which was easy and efficient, is being changed with a lot increased prices for guests,” mentioned Nishad Wijetunga, president of the Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators Affiliation. Together with different business representatives, he not too long ago wrote to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, urging him to intervene and restore “a aggressive and user-friendly visa course of via a government-operated web site”, to take care of the “optimistic momentum” seen within the nation’s tourism sector. .
Because the Sri Lankan media denounced the “visa fiasco” over the weekend, opposition chief Sajith Premadasa took to social media platform ‘X’ on Monday to problem the federal government’s determination. “When the cupboard papers have been submitted for the choice of VFS, what have been the elements that led to picking VFS at $25.77 versus $1 per arrival? [state-owned telecom’s] SLT Mobitel provided? she requested.
At a information convention on Monday, Public Safety Minister Tiran Alles defended the transfer and mentioned the brand new visa prices have been even decrease than these charged by different international locations. “VFS can not problem or reject visas. They will solely test the documentation,” he mentioned, including that the corporate “was not Indian.” Alles denied any corruption in closing the cope with the consortium.
Affect on Indian vacationers
In the meantime, Indian vacationers, who’ve persistently topped the arrival charts to Sri Lanka (3,02,844 or 20% of whole arrivals in 2023), have run right into a peculiar drawback whereas navigating the brand new system.
In a bid to spice up tourism and revive the crisis-hit island economic system, Sri Lanka in October 2023 waived visa charges for vacationers from India and 6 different international locations: China, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan. The settlement has since been expanded. Moreover, Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister Harin Fernando has been organizing roadshows in India, asking vacationers to go to in giant numbers.
Nonetheless, regardless of qualifying for a “free visa,” Indians need to pay about $23, only for the service and comfort price. “In the event that they inform us that is the visa price, that is one factor. However after they let you know the visa is free after which cost you for it, you get discouraged,” mentioned Nadeem Sheikh, proprietor of a journey firm in New Delhi, who not too long ago utilized for a Sri Lanka visa on-line.
The Journey Brokers Affiliation of India (TAAI) held its 67th conference in Colombo final yr and pledged to forge key partnerships to revitalize the island’s tourism sector. “We now have all the time advocated free visas within the area, with a reciprocal settlement with India. Ease of journey and worth for cash make a giant distinction in vacationer arrivals,” mentioned affiliation president Jyoti Mayal. The Hindu. “Sri Lanka has labored very onerous to revive the nation’s tourism business and economic system,” she mentioned.
