High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

With the arrival this evening (30 April) of UL 1188 carrying 125 Sri Lankan students from Kolkata, the operation to bring home 1065 Sri Lankan students based in the South Asian region, over 10 days, reached a successful conclusion.

Commencing on 21 April 2020, a total of nine (9) Sri Lankan Airlines special flights were used to destinations in India (Punjab, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata) Pakistan (Karachi and Lahore), Nepal (Kathmandu) and Bangladesh (Dhaka), to repatriate the  Sri Lankan students who had expressed their desire to return to Sri Lanka in the wake of the COVID 19 Pandemic. Those repatriated also included public and military officials who had completed study and training programmes in the respective countries and had to return to take up official duties back in Sri Lanka. Currently all returnees are undergoing mandatory quarantine at facilities afforded by the Sri Lanka Government.

April 26 2020, Colombo: SriLankan Airlines wishes to clarify details of social media posts that are currently circulating, implying that the airline has charged an excessive sum of money from passengers who were on a specially operated flight to repatriate stranded Sri Lankan students from India to Sri Lanka.

SriLankan Airlines wishes to state that the above-mentioned flight was specifically operated as a special flight, based on the request made by the students and their parents to the Government of Sri Lanka.

On this day, Sri Lanka remembers all those lives lost and changed forever in barbaric acts of violence one year ago. We share the grief of families who lost their loved ones and stand in solidarity with those countries which lost their nationals.  

මීට වසරකට පෙර සිදුකළ ම්ලේච්ඡ ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියාවලින් අහිමි වූ හා සදහටම වෙනස් වූ සියලුම ජීවිත ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද දින සිහිපත් කරයි. තම ආදරණීයයන් අහිමි වූ පවුල්වල ශෝකය අපි බෙදා හදා ගන්නා අතර, තම ජාතිකයන් අහිමි වූ අනෙකුත් රටවල් සමඟ එක්ව කටයුතු කරන්නෙමු.  

ஓராண்டிற்கு முன்னர் வன்முறைகளில் இழந்த, பாதிப்புற்ற அனைவரையும் இன்றைய தினம் இலங்கை நினைவு கூர்கின்றது. தமது உறவுகளையிழந்த குடும்பங்களின் துன்பங்களை நாம் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வதுடன், தமது பிரஜைகளையிழந்த நாடுகளுடன் துணை நிற்கின்றோம்

Ministry of Foreign Relations
Colombo
21 April 2020

The Government of India has conveyed the following notice to the Diplomatic Missions in India with regard to the extension of the validity period of the visas of foreign nationals who are stranded in India due to COVID-19:
 
“Regular Visa, e-Visa or stay stipulation, of such foreign nationals who have been stranded in India because of spread of COVID-19 in many parts of the world and also due to travel restrictions imposed by the Indian authorities and whose visas have expired or would be expiring during the period from 01 February 2020 (Midnight), to 03 May 2020 (Midnight), would be extended till midnight of 03 May 2020 on ‘GRATIS’ basis, after making online application by the foreigner. Exit of such foreign nationals, if so requested by them, will also be granted to them upto 14 days beyond 03 May 2020 i.e., 17 May 2020 without levy of overstay penalty.”