The Hon. Ananda Wijepala - Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs
The Minister tabled an answer stating that, in line with ICAO standards, Sri Lanka will issue only “All Country Passports” for foreign travel, and EC passport applications were accepted only until the existing blank EC stock was exhausted. He said the forthcoming electronic passport will also comply with ICAO standards, with no separate regional passports. For pilgrims to India and Nepal, a P-category all-country passport is issued, while Emergency Certificates are not issued to patients travelling to India for medical treatment.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I table the answer.
¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes.
¶ 03 (ii) In accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, only an “All Country Passport” should be used for foreign travel. Therefore, the Department of Immigration and Emigration accepted EC passport applications only until the then-available blank EC stock was exhausted.
¶ 04 Further, the new electronic passport planned to be issued shortly by the Department will be issued in compliance with ICAO standards. Accordingly, instead of issuing passports for different regions, only “All Country Passports” will be issued in conformity with ICAO standards.
¶ 05 (iii) For pilgrims travelling to India and Nepal, a P-category passport issued for all countries is issued instead of an EC. For patients travelling to India for medical treatment, the Department does not issue Emergency Certificates.
¶ 06 (b) Does not arise.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 11 September 2025 ·No. 1758278142029989 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ananda Wijepala - Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 September 2025. No. 1758278142029989. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/1265