High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

The Government urges Sri Lankan expatriates who wish to return to their Motherland to safely remain where they are now until the risk of COVID – 19 virus minimized.

The Government has taken several effective initiatives to prevent the spread of the pathogen. In order to stop the virus coming into the country and its spread, the Government had completely banned overseas arrivals.

A new web portal ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ has been launched by the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Sri Lanka for Overseas Sri Lankans to register their basic contact details for support needed during COVID-19. This will also allow the Government to reach out and provide assistance during any emergency such as COVID-19.

The web portal is hosted on the web page of the Ministry of Foreign Relations www.mfa.gov.lk and also could be accessed at www.contactsrilanka.mfa.gov.lk.

The High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi kindly invites all Sri Lankans living in India to register voluntarily on this platform.

Taking in to consideration the evolving global circumstances and high risk associated with COVID-19, until further notice, the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi has limited its consular services to the following, in order to minimize the exposure/spread of the virus amongst Sri Lankans:

1) Issuance of Emergency Travel Document for Sri Lankan Citizens

2) Issuance of Certifications related to death of Sri Lankan National

3) Any other emergency services considered necessary

4) Urgent Inquiries regarding COVID-19 Pandemic

The following Mobile Hotline has been established by the High Commission for those Sri Lankans who seek consular assistance:

+91 9650029754

All Sri Lankans in India may contact the mobile hotline for emergency consular services as mentioned above.

With a total of 48 Buddhist pilgrims returning in the last SriLankan Airlines dedicated flight that departed New Delhi at 05:10 hrs. today (22) before India closed its airports for inward commercial passenger flights, all Sri Lankan Buddhist pilgrims who were stranded in India have now returned to Sri Lanka.

Earlier in the day, another dedicated SriLankan Airlines aircraft that left Chennai at 03:00 hrs. brought 97 Buddhist pilgrims to Colombo, making a total of 145 pilgrims returning to Sri Lanka on 22 March.

On 21 March, a total of 298 pilgrims left New Delhi by SriLankan Airlines flight UL196, which departed Indira Gandhi International Airport at 19:31 hrs.

By the time the Government of Sri Lanka announced a temporary closure of airports in Sri Lanka for inward commercial passenger aircraft, there were approximately 1500 Sri Lankan Buddhist pilgrims in India. Since then, all these pilgrims left India, earlier by scheduled commercial flights and later by dedicated SriLankan Airlines aircraft that were operated to bring back stranded pilgrims.