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

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answer is as follows.

¶ 02 (a) (i) For Sri Lankans going for employment in Korea, visas are under E9 and E7 categories. The E9 category exists under the MoU signed between the Governments of Korea and Sri Lanka; E7 is for professionals.

¶ 03 (ii) The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (SLFEA) was neither aware of nor involved in E8 visa issuance.

¶ 04 (iii) Since there is no registration with the SLFEA, we do not know how many went.

¶ 05 (iv) There is no mechanism to find out whether such workers are in distress.

¶ 06 (v) Therefore, we do not have the numbers.

¶ 07 (vi) The SLFEA can intervene only for workers who went abroad legally for employment through the Agency’s proper registration.

¶ 08 (b) (i) There is no such arrangement under an “E8” category; there has been no proper registration process.

¶ 09 (ii) In fact, our Government has not recognized an “E8 visa” mechanism. Only E9 and E7 are in operation.

¶ 10 (c) Question does not arise.

¶ 11 Hon. Speaker, generally when sending workers for foreign employment, MoUs are signed with those countries, routed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and approved by Cabinet. Without Cabinet approval, no MoU is valid. The MoU related to an “E8” category is unlawful. On 26 April 2024, the then Labour Minister Manusha Nanayakkara signed such an MoU. It was signed on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka by a provincial authority and on behalf of the Republic of Korea by the Mayor of Wando County. Based on that, the Korean Embassy issued E8 visas, having been informed by the Korean Ministry of Justice. That MoU is not with the SLFEA; we discovered it was irregularly kept in the Labour Ministry.

¶ 12 This MoU is farcical. A Cabinet Minister signing such an MoU is unprecedented. The title says Sri Lanka and Korea, but within, it repeatedly refers to Korea and Pakistan — evidently copied and edited poorly from a Korea–Pakistan MoU, with only a few instances replacing “Pakistan” with “Sri Lanka.” It even says, “The conclusion and implementation of the MoU should be observed by the Laws of the Korea and the Pakistan and international treaties.”