Sri Lanka Puts Visa-On-Arrival Programme On Hold

Sri Lanka puts its visa-on-arrival plans on hold after the country was struck by terror bombings on Easter Sunday. Prior to the attacks on 21 April 2019, the country had made an announcement about their plan to grant visa-on-arrival to 39 countries. This was part of a plan to increase tourism during its offseason from May to October. The visa-on-arrival programme included the United States of America, members of the European Union, Australia. It did not include India or China.

In a recent statement, however, Tourism Minister John Amaratunga announced, “Although arrangements were in place to issue visas on arrival for citizens of 39 countries, we have now decided to hold it for the time being in consideration of the current security situation.” He further shared that since “the investigations have revealed foreign links to the attacks”, they don’t wish for “this facility to be abused” 

The suicide bombings in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on East Sunday had a death toll of about 253 people. Post the horrific incident, many countries have issued advisories not to travel to Sri Lanka, including the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, among others. The Ministry of External Affairs in India has issued a travel advisory urging citizens not to undertake ‘non-essential’ travel to Sri Lanka at the moment.