Sri Lanka ends visa on arrival facility due to abuses

       

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Sunday scrapped the visa on arrival facility for citizens of all but two countries, replacing it with an online application system whereby visitors will have to apply before arriving here.

The new electronic travel authorisation system (ETA) is now applicable to 78 nations, including India. Only passport holders from Singapore and Maldives are exempted from it and will be eligible for on arrival visas.

Following representations from India, the visa fee payable by Indian and SAARC region tourists under ETA was reduced to USD 10 from the originally-planned USD 50. Non-SAARC nation visitors would, however, be charged USD 20 as visa fee.

The government said that on arrival visa system where bona fide tourists were given 30-day visas had to be scrapped due to increasing number of abuses.