Five-year visas for resident foreigners under new amendment

The Consultative Committee on Defence has given its nod to amend the Immigrants and Emigrants Act No. 20 of 1948 to increase the current visa issuance period for foreigners from two to five years, parliamentary sources said.

The decision was made during the Defence Ministry Consultative Committee meeting held at the parliamentary complex on Wednesday (22).

Accordingly the committee decided to permit the presenting of Immigrants and Emigrants (Amendment) Bill to Parliament for a second reading.

The Consultative Committee on Defence met on Wednesday with State Minister of National Security and Disaster Management Chamal Rajapaksa (in the chair) and attended by MPs Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Pradeep Undugoda, Charles Nirmalanathan and Tiran Allas.

Officials including the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration U.V. Sarath Rupasiri joined the committee meeting via zoom.

Controller General Rupasiri said that the Section 14 of the Immigrants and Emigrants Act No. 20 of 1948 would be amended to increase the current visa issuance period from two to five years for foreigners to encourage foreign investments. The period for which visas can be granted with the approval of the Minister, would be further increased from five to ten years.

He said that these amendments will introduce a Permanent Resident Visa status and the relevant regulations will be formulated in the future.

Rupasiri said the issuance of long-term visas has a number of socio-economic benefits, including providing a safer environment for foreign investors to invest in businesses.