News
More than 1,300 foreigners denied entry for security reasons
More than 1,300 foreigners were not allowed to enter Sri Lanka by Immigration authorities last year — many of them from four countries whose citizens are subjected to clearances from the State Intelligence Service (SIS) before being issued Sri Lankan visas, according to the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Pakistani, Afghan, Egyptian and Syrian citizens require clearance from the SIS in view of the global security situation that had arisen in 2014, the Department said in its performance report for 2016 tabled in Parliament this week. Among the 1134 foreign nationals refused entry were 239 Pakistanis, 166 Afghans, 41 Egyptians and six Syrians.
Entry was also refused to 217 Indians, 210 Chinese and 78 Nepalese, the report said. Last year, more than 2.1 million foreigners visited Sri Lanka. Of them,more than a million were Asians with around 800,000 coming from Europe.
A majority arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport with only 1,417 using the Mattala airport and about 26,000 using sea ports.
A total of 1,485,004 Sri Lankans also came back to the country and of them, only 845 used the Mattala Airport. Meanwhile, the Department issued 658,725 passports, including 401 diplomatic passports, last year.