Question arises on national security threat, impact on tourism

On-arrival visa controversy

• No tender process followed
• SLT-Mobitel that developed system ignored
• Govt. hell-bent on restoring it back to foreign company soon
• Following viral video, service assigned back to SL Immigration
• SL immigration authorities charge only visa fees  from foreign nationals

By Kelum Bandara

The  award of contract for issuing on-arrival visas at the Bandaranaike  International Airport (BIA) to a foreign consortium including VFS Global  as the key technology partner is mired in further controversy since it  has been done without following due tender process, any consideration to  a threat on national security and the impact on increased charges from  foreign nationals on the country’s burgeoning tourism industry.

Also,  the foreign company which is handling visa documentation in over 150  countries has been awarded the contract despite the local company  Mobitel having developed a system to implement the programme at a lower  rate and Sri Lanka Immigration handling it without any hassle at an  economical rate for a dozen 
of years.

The Cabinet memorandum has  been submitted in this regard by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles.  However, the immigration authorities say they suspect some hidden  agendas behind the whole issue and they are in the process of studying  it in detail.

According to them, a security threat can be  triggered because a foreign company will possess personal details of  nationals from any country visiting Sri Lanka.

“It can trigger a  threat probably since the Sri Lankan security authorities cannot fully  assess the individual backgrounds of foreign nationals arriving as  visitors,” an immigration officer who wished to remain anonymous said.

Also,  he said the Sri Lankan immigration authorities charge only visa fees  from foreign nationals but after the process was outsourced, additional  service charges were levied leading to on-arrival visa fees being hiked  to as high as 100 dollars per visitor.

“We are not sure whether  our rates will be competitive enough in that context. It will have a  bearing on tourism. People might choose to travel to countries where  visa rates are lower than ours,” he said.

The Government and  the Ministry of Public Security came under heavy criticism yesterday for  outsourcing the visa system supervised by the Department of Immigration  and Emigration (DIE) after rejecting a virtually free and  well-functioning platform provided by SLT-Mobitel.

A Cabinet  decision made in July 2021 approving Mobitel’s proposal submitted to the  Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) to revamp the existing  system along with the infrastructure at a cost of $ 1.00 per Electronic  Travel Authorisation (ETA) application to be charged from foreigners  applying for ETA with zero cost to the Government.

However, the  Public Security Ministry had overlooked the proposal of the local  company and decided to outsource the project to GBS Technology Services  and IVS Global FZCO as the prime contractor.

VFS Global is the  technology partner for implementation of the new eVisa platform. From 17  April, all visitors to Sri Lanka have been subject to $ 18.5 service  fee and $ 7.27 convenience fee in addition to higher visa fees.
Standard  tourist visa fee was increased to $ 75 for non-SAARC countries (which means  with additional fees an entry will cost over $ 100 per person) and  SAARC country tourist visa fee was increased from $ 20 to $ 35. The  tourism industry has already protested against the hike and additional  fees.

Following the recent video which went viral showing an  angered person shouting at the airport over purported discrepancies in  the system, the government restored the process with Sri Lanka  immigration immediately.
However, Ministry Secretary Viyani  Gunatilake said there due to a technical glitch on Wednesday night there  had been a backlog, and as soon as it is restored, the service would  be given back to the foreign company within a week or so.