Issuance of e-visas in Sri Lanka suspended

Sri Lanka has suspended its online e-visa portal from 2 August following an interim order of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court regarding the agreement under which the platform operates. Travellers planning to travel to Sri Lanka in the near future will now have to obtain a visa on arrival.

The suspension of the system will last until the final judgement of the court. But applicants who have applied for a visa after the said deadline can get a refund.

On 17 April, an online portal for electronic visa (e-Visa) was launched to replace the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system.

But 3 months later, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court temporarily suspended the e-Visa system, overturning the government's decision to hand over the management of the visa system to foreign companies, and also ordered the former ETA portal operated by Sri Lankan telecoms company Mobitel to be reinstated.