If you are visiting Sri Lanka from the New Year, you have to log-in ahead online and have a travel authorisation. The era of visa-on-arrival comes to end on Saturday night.
After a lot of deliberations, Sri Lanka has decided to go ahead with the proposed electronic travel authorisation scheme, which requires a tourist to register and pay a fee ahead of arriving in the country.
Only two countries – Singapore and The Maldives – are exempted from the rule since they too provide visa-free travel for Sri Lankans. Indians will have to pay about $3 online ahead of travelling to Sri Lanka.
Asked if the visa-on-arrival system has been scrapped, officials clarified that the actual visa will be stamped once the tourist reaches the immigration counter. Right now, there is also a facility to pay it at the counter too, said one person manning a government services hotline.
A few travel agents this reporter spoke to said they had been intimated earlier and there was no change in the past few days.
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