Lanka to issue biometric passports to prevent forgeries

The Sri Lankan Department of Immigration and Emigration is taking measures to issue biometric passports (e-passports) early next year to prevent forgeries.

The announcement was made by S.B. Nawinne, Minister of Internal Affairs, North Western Development and Cultural Affairs, while participating in the ceremonial launch of Sri Lanka Visa Stickers and introduction of OnLine Passport Application filling facility.

Nawinne said the introduction of the new technologies is taking place under the directions of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He added the Emigration Department is with the enhancement of technology and the provision of infrastructure facilities expected to earn a profit of Rs. 15 billion in 2016 in comparison to the Rs. 11 billion profit in 2015.

The existing visa issuance system works by affixing rubber stamps, but this will be replaced by newly introduced Machine Readable Visa (MRV) in compliance with the Immigrants and Emigrants Act.

"Introduction of MRV, which incorporates security features with high technology while complying with International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) standards 9303 is a great milestone," Colombo Page quoted Nawinne as saying.

The introduction of Visa Stickers will help in facilitating different types of visas, detect mala fide passengers and forgeries and also facilitate border checks while expediting the issuance of visas.