Sri Lanka faces delay in granting free visas for 40 countries amid legal hurdles

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is facing delay in implementing a visa free scheme for 33 countries as it is awaiting clearance from the Attorney General (AG) Department, amid legal complications related to a visa deal with private party, Foreign and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath said.

In July this year, Sri Lanka announced that it will extend the list of countries which will be exempted from paying ETA visa fees to 40 with an aim to boost tourism.

But the measure is yet to be implemented, and travelers for those countries still have to pay the usual fees.

“We have to submit the new gazette notification to the parliament,” Minister Herath told reporters on Tuesday at the weekly post Cabinet media briefing.

“After that we will implement that process. We expect to finalize it within one or two months.”

He separately told EconomyNext that the delay was due to some advice and clarification required from the Attorney General.

“We are waiting for some clarification from the AG because the case on the previous online visa scheme is still not finished,” ,” he said.

“There is some legal advice required related to revenue when we go for a free visa scheme.”

At present, only holders of ordinary, diplomatic, official, or service passports from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand are eligible for a free ETA.

The Minister’s comment comes days after a special audit by Sri Lanka’s Auditor General on the controversial visa deal with VFS, IVS and GBS companies, which was suspended by court, where high fees and hidden fees were charged.

The audit report has said that some revenues due to Sri Lanka was not remitted by the computer.

Prior to the VFS deal, Sri Lanka also hiked the underlying visa fees.

The scheme saw the work of the Department of Immigration and Emigration outsourced to a private company in April last year before it was suspended by the courts on August 2, 2024. (Colombo/October 29/2025)