- Problem still exists: Another disappointed tourist explains what happened yesterday
- Public should not get sidetracked with latest MP Diana Gamage’s scandal
- Minister Tiran Alles’ press briefing regarding the scandal was well orchestrated and one sided
A tourist who arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday for a two-week visit expressed her frustration after being compelled to purchase a six-month multiple entry visa for US $100.77, despite her intention of needing a mere 30-day visa to suit her purpose of visit.
“I came urgently because my mum is unwell, and then to my shock, I had to pay $100 just for a week,” she recounted.
Upon arrival, she encountered further bureaucratic obstacles at the airport.
“There were no landing cards available. They directed us to complete them online, but all the airport computers were out of order. I even bought a local SIM card to try and access the site online, but I couldn’t get any reception and the webpage wouldn’t load. By the time I managed to get help, everyone else had left.”
She continued, “I explained my situation to an immigration officer, showing him that I couldn’t connect. He just grinned, told me it was okay, and stamped my passport. The last time I was here, the fee was less than half of what I paid this time. Who the bloody hell is benefiting from this new price structure? Someone must be making a fortune off of it. I’m simply disappointed!”
Meanwhile A high-powered State committee has summoned the Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Public Security and the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration following the outsourcing of the Visit Visa Desk at the country’s main passenger entry port to an Indian firm.
The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) is seeking to ascertain as to how this visa issue was handed over to a foreign private firm while it is customary for all public finance-related legislation be routed through COPF, but this strangely was not the case,” committee chairman MP Harsha de Silva said in a post ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).
“We will hold a balanced inquiry into this ongoing visa fiasco”, he stated.
Meanwhile the main Opposition Samagai Jana Balaya (SJB) has called upon the Government to explain as to how the Department of Immigration and Emigration had entered into an agreement with VFS Global-led grouping for the issuance of online visas after the State-owned telephone provider SLT Mobitel offered the same service at a much lower cost.
Former SJB MP Mujibur Rahuman told a media briefing in the commercial capital of Colombo that SLT Mobitel offered to issue an online visa per person at US$ 1 whereas the VFS-led operation charged US$ 25.70.
The visa fiasco has grown into a full blown issue ever since a Sri Lankan man protested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) early last week after his female foreign partner was refused an entry visa by the Indian handlers.
Not only that, local stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry raised an urgent alarm that the hike in the visa fee could adversely affect the industry which is a key foreign exchange source to the country’s coffers.
They also warned that tourists would look elsewhere such as countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Maldives, Singapore and so on where visas are issued free or at a much lower cost.
