By: Zaid Bin Ahmad Fauzi
Great news!
For tourists wanting
to visit Sri Lanka, they no longer have to fill in those pesky long forms for
visa. Long gone are days where we would have to bring our passport sized photos
and irritatingly fill in those visa forms as the Sri Lankan government has abolished
the Visa on Arrival scheme for Tourist Visas and have moved to an online
application system. Now, tourists will only need to apply for a visa in advance
through the new online Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system starting
this year. And best of all, it only takes a few moments for the application to be
approved. That’s definitely great news for us as we will be visiting Sri Lanka
in the very near future!
More on how the
ETA System works, surprisingly it actually doesn’t issue any visas at all, what
it does is provide an authorization for applying tourists to travel there. Once
our application is approved, we will receive a notice through our e-mail which
we must print out and carry with us to Sri Lanka. Once we reach there, a visa
will be stamped in our passports when we pass through the immigration in Sri
Lanka. Then we are home free!
Regarding the
ETA website itself, the design is easy on the eyes and it is also user-friendly
for tourists. We can see beautiful pictures of Sri Lanka’s famous attractions
that entice us to go there straight away. The website also conveniently provides
a complete list of all the information we would need, from who are required to
apply to the fees information. The website also provides a step by step guide
for applying. Therefore unwanted headaches can be avoided!
This is also a
good opportunity to note that when we visited the Sri Lankan Embassy in Ampang,
the hospitality there was great and gives a good image for the country. The
officer in charge was polite and was very attentive to us. The officer provided
clear and precise answers to all our questions. Furthermore, before leaving,
the officer also gave us a number of brochures, guide books and maps on Sri
Lanka for free. That’s 1st class hospitality right here!
Besides that, as
stated above, after applying online, it only takes a moment for it to be
approved. Approximately a few minutes really and no application will take
longer than 24 hours to be approved. This is a far cry from some other visa
applications that required weeks or months to be approved. The ETA website also
provides sample notices/e-mails for tourists’ reference.
As with all good
things, there has to be a price, $20 to be exact. That’s how much most tourists
would need to pay to apply. But it is money well spent I have to say.
With our trip to
Sri Lanka upon us, we are looking forward to experiencing some more Sri Lankan
hospitality first-hand. Culminating with a lot fun and exciting experiences!
À bientôt !
No comments:
Post a Comment