The fee to acquire a short-term visa to go to Sri Lanka rose from $50 to $100 in April.
However the purpose for it’s disputed.
The worth hike adopted Sri Lanka’s transition from utilizing inner Digital Journey Authorizations, or ETAs, to an e-visa system operated by the visa processing firm VFS World.
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minster Harin Fernando blamed a “technical subject,” telling CNBC Thursday that VFS World “missed out” on providing 30-day visas when it beginning processing visas to the nation on April 17.
In response, VFS World mentioned, “Visa classes had been launched as per the directives of [Sri Lanka’s] Division of Immigration and Emigration (DI&E).”
Each events agreed that 30-day journey visas priced at $50 had been reinstated as of Might 7. VFS World, in an electronic mail despatched to CNBC Monday, mentioned that on this date “the DI&E re-introduced the 30-day visa class for all nationalities.”
One other subject: VFS World’s charges
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Public Safety moved away from its ETA system due to considerations over frequent hacking of the web site by scammers, Fernando mentioned.
“We needed to go for a world firm which may be very reputed,” he mentioned.
VFS World stood out among the many choices, he mentioned. The corporate works with 67 governments and operates in additional than 150 international locations, in line with its web site.
However VFS World’s charges angered many in Sri Lanka’s journey trade and led to allegations of corruption by Sri Lankan opposition leaders.
The charges — which whole some $25 per visa, in line with native media — had been disclosed by way of a contract signed with Sri Lanka’s immigration authority on Dec. 21, 2023, a spokesperson from VFS World advised CNBC.
“Service charge expenses are authorized by all Governments and are decided based mostly on varied elements similar to scope of the general engagement, quantity of functions anticipated, useful resource and infrastructure prices required to fulfil the Service Stage Agreements and so forth,” mentioned VFS World. “For instance, within the case of Schengen international locations, the service charge for brief keep visa can go as much as a most of 40 Euros.”
However these have been considerably diminished for 30-day visas, mentioned Fernando. Now, Sri Lanka’s authorities retains $40 and VFS World expenses $10, he mentioned.
‘Free visas’ include expenses
Residents of seven international locations are eligible without cost visas to enter Sri Lanka.
“It have to be famous — that the 30-day, free visa for seven nationalities specifically India, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand had been at all times accessible and is legitimate for journey into Sri Lanka as much as 31 Might 2024,” a VFS World spokesperson mentioned.
Nonetheless, candidates from these international locations nonetheless should pay VFS World’s charges, mentioned Fernando.
“The federal government of Sri Lanka will not be charging, however the platform … will,” he mentioned. Because of this, “We’re nonetheless in debate, whether or not we must always utterly surrender VFS.”
Sri Lanka’s “free visa” coverage ought to to not be confused with the “visa-free” agreements enacted up to now 12 months by many Asian international locations. These agreements exempt vacationers from needing a visa.
Below Sri Lanka’s coverage, visas are required.
Sri Lanka is contemplating including 60 extra international locations to its “free visa” record, mentioned Fernando.
“Pre-Covid, we had greater than 40 international locations on the free visa,” he mentioned, including {that a} committee appointed by the federal government will subject a choice inside 30 days.
“We will certainly have a visa coverage in place very quickly,” he mentioned.
