Colombo launches online platform to access documents from abroad

On 6 January, Vijitha Herath, Minister of Foreign Affairs, launched the initiative as part of the digitisation process initiated by Dissanayake. A pilot project is active in seven embassies, including Japan, Qatar and Kuwait. Jasintha Subasinghe, Sinhalese in Italy: ‘Visits to the homeland were races for documents’. Cases of abuse of power by officials in some countries.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - ‘This online system is very valuable for us who are abroad. We are very grateful to benefit from such an effective measure. Until now we had to rush and waste time. We are facilitated because we only go on holiday to our homeland for a short period of time'.

AsiaNews gathered the views of some Sinhalese living abroad on the 6 January launch of the digital platform that allows overseas citizens to quickly obtain birth, marriage and death certificates through their respective embassies, without any delay.

The initiative is part of the ambitious digitisation programme initiated by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. In this context, on Monday, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath inaugurated the new platform: a website managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism.

The pilot project is being implemented in seven embassies in Sri Lanka, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, as well as in Milan, Toronto, Melbourne and Dubai. The project aims to cover all embassies in the future.

‘This opportunity for Sri Lankans abroad is the result of dedicated efforts over the past two months by officials of the presidential secretariat,’ said Minister Herath.

‘Although the officials could have implemented it earlier, they did not have the necessary leadership. However, with the new political leadership, the officials managed to turn it into reality within two months. This is the first successful initiative of the President's digitisation process'. For Herath, the new service would also support the economy: Sri Lankans abroad can obtain documents for a fee of about USD 22.

The minister also announced that a tender had been issued for the printing of new passports. ‘In this way, we intend to get the quantities of passports quickly and provide the same technology for renewing and obtaining new documents,’ he added. ‘With over three million Sinhalese currently living abroad, this is a critical step.’

Lester Jans, who lives in Los Angeles, California, US, told AsiaNews that the system needs to be set up as soon as possible to allow Sri Lankans living abroad to obtain documentation online. Even in his case, visits to Sri Lanka turned into office runs.

‘The short time we have to spend with our relatives back home, we have to spend on getting these documents. So, my friends and I appreciate these new measures. We abroad are very grateful to the new government for making this progress,' Jasintha Subasinghe, who represents herself and her friends living in Breccia (Como), Italy, told AsiaNews .

Philippe Ratnayake, a resident of Brussels, Belgium, sees this step by the government with two perspectives. ‘Firstly, we congratulate the government for taking a step forward towards Sri Lankan citizens abroad. Because some had to wait a long time to get the necessary certificates through embassies and offices in their respective countries,’ he told AsiaNews.

Then, he says he is aware of cases where officials in some countries have extorted money from people by claiming to provide those documents quickly.

He explained that ‘when we go to make requests for documents we are given a yellow sheet. That yellow sheet indicates that we are Sri Lankan citizens and the officials try to trick us and get money by saying that it is a long process. There have been friends of ours who have faced similar situations'.

Another thing Philip explained is that only migrant workers or people who have a visa can be involved in this process, but people staying abroad under political protection cannot be involved in the new process. Everyone said that this new step will have to be kept under control to avoid any drift, because it is still a pilot project.