New Delhi: The Sri Lankan Supreme Court Friday suspended the island country’s new electronic visa scheme operated by a consortium including an Indian company, which had been running immigration services since April this year.
The e-visa scheme reportedly faced multiple controversies, including allegations of corruption of over a billion dollars. Sri Lankan opposition leaders such as Sajith Premadasa have been speaking out against it for months.
“We have been notified of certain interim orders issued by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka today pertaining to the agreement under which this platform is operated. In view of these orders, the website is suspended effective 2 August at 17:00 hours Sri Lanka Standard Time,” read a message on the e-visa services website.
The Sri Lankan Supreme Court passed an interim order suspending the scheme and directed that the previously used electronic travel authentication portal operated by Mobitel, a Sri Lankan telecommunications company, be restored. The suspension will remain till the court resolves the petition.
According to reports, the Department of Immigration continues to issue physical visas on arrival for tourists from eligible countries.
The consortium that operated the new system includes VFS Global, GBS Technology and IVS Global Services, the last being an India-based company. VFS Global was founded in India and is now headquartered in Dubai. A majority of the company is owned by Blackstone, an American investment firm.
In a post on X Saturday, Premadasa wrote: “Supreme Court’s suspension of VFS deal is a big win against corruption. I thank @Rauff_Hakeem, @MASumanthiran, @pcranawaka, @HarshadeSilvaMP, Ashoka Abeysinghe and SJB lawyers for their tireless work in exposing the scam and bearing the continuing intimidation.”
Supreme Court’s suspension of VFS deal is a big win against corruption. I thank @Rauff_Hakeem, @MASumanthiran, @pcranawaka, @HarshadeSilvaMP, Ashoka Abeysinghe and SJB lawyers for their tireless work in exposing the scam and bearing the continuing intimidation. https://t.co/Dy3OnsMziQ
— Sajith Premadasa (@sajithpremadasa) August 3, 2024
Those Premadasa thanked in his post are opposition members who went to the Supreme Court on the issue — namely M. A. Sumanthiran, Rauf Hakeem and Patali Champika Ranawaka. They accused the consortium firms of “enriching themselves” by almost $1.4 billion, according to media reports.
Premadasa himself in May posted on social media that the new visa process would cost the Sri Lankan government “13.5 billion [Sri Lankan] rupees” per year, which is almost seven times the total budget for the country’s tourism sector in 2024.
Supreme Court’s suspension of VFS deal is a big win against corruption. I thank @Rauff_Hakeem, @MASumanthiran, @pcranawaka, @HarshadeSilvaMP, Ashoka Abeysinghe and SJB lawyers for their tireless work in exposing the scam and bearing the continuing intimidation. https://t.co/Dy3OnsMziQ
— Sajith Premadasa (@sajithpremadasa) August 3, 2024
The new scheme also faced pushback from the tourism industry in Sri Lanka — an extremely important sector for the island country’s economy — for the higher costs and complicated system operated by the new consortium.
Under the new system, the costs for visas doubled from $50 to $100, which included nearly $25 in facilitation fees, depending on the visa type, while under the previous system, Mobitel charged $1, according to Travel and Tour World, a travel and tourism industry magazine.
Sri Lankan minister of tourism Harin Fernando had in May publicly stated that he was against the new scheme, after learning of the charges imposed by the consortium.
2. When the new proposal was introduced, VFS charges were not mentioned. Since it came to light, I have objected to the proposal. @sajithpremadasa
— Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) May 6, 2024
After the implementation of the new visa processing system, the number of tourists arriving to the country dropped significantly in the months of April, May and June this year, in comparison to the footfall seen in the first three months of the year.
In January, February and March, around 2 lakh tourists visited the island country a month, while in April, May and June, the number of tourists was around 1.12 lakh a month, according to data published by the Government of Sri Lanka.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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