The Hon. Vijitha Herath - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I table the answer. Summary:

¶ 02 (a) (i) At present, no delay exists. (ii) A procedure has been formulated for urgent needs. (iii) No necessity for compensation arises. (iv) For applicants who apply at least six months before passport expiry, passports are processed by the Department of Immigration and Emigration in order of receipt. (v) Online application processing will be operational during 2026, centered in 20 countries. (vi) The Foreign Missions Division of Immigration and Emigration, together with the Consular Division of the Ministry, provides mutual cooperation for expedited processing. (vii) Through Sri Lanka’s overseas missions network, the Ministry is committed to ensuring easy access to essential consular services for all Sri Lankans abroad. Missions regularly conduct consular mobile services—periodically or monthly—based on identified demand/need. These services have been very useful for Sri Lankans in remote areas or those unable to personally visit embassies/consulates due to distance or other constraints. Through these mobile services, missions provide a broad range of consular functions: registration of births, marriages and deaths; dual citizenship applications; document attestation; acceptance of new passport applications; issuance of life certificates; and others. To standardize and strengthen these services, the Ministry has issued comprehensive guidelines (Ref. MFA/CONS/MIS/Mobile/2023, copy attached) for missions. The guidelines provide a framework, especially for countries/regions where large numbers of Sri Lankans reside and find travel to the mission costly or difficult. Missions are encouraged to include mobile/on-site services in annual plans; prior Ministry approval is required; typical service locations are at least 300 km from the mission/consulate; services are conducted with Sri Lankan community/religious organizations for logistics/coordination. The Ministry recognizes special circumstances in certain countries with high numbers of migrant workers and accords priority, approving monthly mobile consular services (e.g., Dammam, Saudi Arabia), which has proven highly effective in providing continuous, accessible, community-based consular support. Performance is continuously monitored, and expansion to other countries/regions with significant Sri Lankan populations will be considered. The overarching objective is to ensure no Sri Lankan abroad is deprived of timely, efficient consular assistance, wherever they may be.

¶ 03 (b) (i) Currently, missions provide legal support (e.g., transmission of summons) in close coordination with local authorities/legal professionals via host foreign ministries. Where a critical need to enhance legal support is identified—particularly in selected missions in countries with large numbers of Sri Lankan migrant workers—the Ministry will take steps to establish designated liaison points or special units. (ii) To deliver efficient consular services, the Minister is allocating resources to strengthen missions, including: - Digitization of consular services (e.g., a mobile app for complaint management and tracking). - Strengthening consular sections with increased staffing capacity and specialized training (crisis management, labour issues, legal support), and exploring extended hours/weekend services at selected missions. - Enhanced engagement with host authorities, employers and community organizations to protect welfare and enable rapid response to labour disputes, detentions, repatriations and other emergencies. - Improved public outreach and communication via diaspora networks; regular advisories; up-to-date consular guidance and emergency contact information.