Officials of the Immigration and Emigration Department said this during the sectoral oversight committee on international relations held under the chairmanship MP Namal Rajapaksa.

Officials pointed out that Sri Lankans who live abroad can apply for passports online without visiting Sri Lankan embassies in their countries.

The committee also discussed the implementation of an e-passport and the Rajapaksa instructed the relevant officials to speed up this process.

There was also a discussion about various issues including the shortcomings found in visa application online.

For this purpose, the Chairman of the committee Namal Rajapaksa instructed the officials to quickly prepare and implement the necessary mechanism for foreigners to obtain their visas without difficulty, and to take necessary steps to further improve the facilities of Sri Lanka’s international airports for both locals and foreigners.

The importance of attracting tourists from high-income generated countries like Europe to Sri Lanka was discussed at length and the chairman advised the officials to take the necessary steps for that without delay.