News
Five-year visas for resident foreigners under new amendment
by Saman Indrajith
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.
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
The Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 provides the legal provisions for regulating and promoting the export agriculture sector in this country.
Taking into consideration administrative changes and sectoral developments that have taken place over time, approval was granted at the Cabinet Meetings held on 2023-09-04 and 2025-08-11 to amend the said Act, which has not been updated for over 30 years.
The proposed amendments are intended to amend the designations of the Head of the Department of Export Agriculture and other officials, and to provide a clearer definition of the term “the export agricultural crop.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to publish in the Government Gazette the Draft Export Agriculture Promotion (Amendment) Bill, prepared in all three languages by the Legal Draftsman to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, and thereafter submit the same to Parliament for its concurrence
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