Department of Immigration and Emigration

Sri Lanka

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HISTORY >> THE DEPARTMENT  |  TRAVEL DOCUMENTS SINCE 1948  |  PAST CONTROLLERS  |  50^TH ANNIVERSARY

50 YEARS OF MIGRATION

The Department of Immigration and Emigration stepped into the new millennium along with its Golden Jubilee Celebrations. After gaining Independence from British, the then Parliament promulgated the Immigrants and Emigrants Act No. 20 of 1948. In this Act provision was made for the control of entry of non-Sri Lankans, to regulate the exit of non-Sri Lankans, and for the removal of non-Sri Lankans.

During the period when Ceylon was a British colony entry and exit was controlled by the following Acts:
1) Passport Ordinance
2) Destitute Immigrants Ordinance of 1907

Provision was made in the Passport Ordinance for expatriates Ceylon to obtain Visas for entry in to Sri Lanka form British Passport Officers appointed to act on behalf of Ceylon. However, a stipulation to the effect that British Citizens should be in possession of a Passport or a Certificate of Identity for travel to countries other than India was laid down in this Ordinance. A proviso was laid down in this ordinance to the effect that it was necessary for a British Subject to be in possession of a Pass whilst a Citizen of India could freely travel to Ceylon and stay without any restriction.

Destitute Immigrants Ordinance was in force in 1907 as the main objective of preventing the entry of persons who would be a liability to the Treasury. This Ordinance introduced the necessity of an Asian being in possession of Rs.150 or an European a sum of Rs.600 or sufficient documentary evidence in proof of prospective employment in Ceylon. Entry into the country was permitted as a matter of course on production of a letter of guarantee or at times by the mention of a friend’s name or such a friend being present to receive the Immigrant.

Entry of expatriates were also permitted on bonds entered into by a locals to the effect that he would maintain the immigrant for a period of one year and ensure the departure. Entry of labourers and kanganis of British origin was not covered by section 3 (1) of the Destitute Immigrants Ordinance.

This particular piece of legislation on the whole was full of shortcomings. For example, the Commission Report headed by Sri Edward St. J. Jackson (OBE, KC) appointed to investigate into the entry of persons indicated that the average number of persons prevented was 300. The number of Indians permitted to enter was approximately 90,400. It has also to be noted that this number has been computed leaving aside labourers who were not genuine immigrants.

The emigration of unskilled labourers from Ceylon was prohibited with effect from 01.08.1939. Simultaneously provision under Section 10 of the Indian Emigrants Ordinance of 1922 providing the entry of unskilled labourers from India to Ceylon was annulled. Under Sub Section 2 (1) of the same ordinance the term “unskilled labourers” was broadly interpreted as “labourers engaged in agricultural pursuits” in actual implementation the entry of unskilled labourers was prohibited. However, those conditions were contravened and unskilled labourers freely entered the country.

There was widespread agitation on the necessity to frame legislation controlling the entry of persons into the country. In consideration of this, in 1941 ordinance was promulgated including Immigration Laws. But it was not effective and the influx of British Citizens continued unabated as before. Migration control was bone by Passport Authorities. At the beginning control was done by the Chief Secretary and his Assistants and later by the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and his Assistants. Field duties were entrusted to the Police.

Immigrants and Emigrants Act No. 20 of 1948 was passed in October 1948. Regulations under the Act were framed in July 1949. Passport Ordinance and the Destitute Immigrations Ordinance were annulled under the Act.

A national policy regarding emigration was introduced by the above Act. This New Act basically resembles the Immigrants Bill introduced in 1941. The necessity of establishing a new Department to implement the provisions of the Immigrants and Emigrants Act. This new Department was established in October 1949 and started in Colombo Fort.

The Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Defence was transferred together with his staff to the newly formed Department. Police Department, which attended to the field duties was requested to hand over of those functions to the newly formed Department.

The implementation of the new regulations was postponed until 01st November 1949 till relief arrangements were effected to those affected by the new Act.

The practice of issuing British Passports to Citizens of Sri Lanka was stopped with effect from 01.11.1949. The New Ceylon Passport came into use from then, and the holder had to be a Citizen by descent or by registration.

There was a large number who were unable to obtain Passports under the interpretation “ Ceylon Citizen” under Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948. An administrative arrangement was made to enable such persons to leave the country until such time they obtained Passports, by issuing them with “Identity Certificates” Citizens of India, Pakistan, Malaysia could travel with “ Emergency Certificates”.

Passports and Identity Certificates were issued here in respect of the Government of Pakistan. Issue of travel documents in comparison with the year 1998 is as follows:

Applications for Passports started pouring in, in large numbers along with the employment boom in wist Asian Middle Eastern Countries. Same day Passports were introduced with an additional fee with effect from 01.06.1990. It proved to be of grate service to those who required Passports urgently.

Tourist Visas
Visas for a period of six months were issued to Foreigners desiring to visit Sri Lanka.

Bona fide tourists from the United Kingdom and Colonies, India, Pakistan, Canada and Ireland were excepted from the requirement of possessing Visas.

Visas were issued freely to genuine tourists. In the meantime there were some who visited the country for short periods with mala fide intentions of gainful employment or merging with the locals.

The number of Visas issued by our representatives abroad in 1950 was 10,092. In 1998 it rose up to 25,201. This figure was in addition to Visas issued by our Missions abroad.

Temporary Resident Permits
Those who remained in the Island on the appointed date of 01.11.1949 were allowed to Remain and a re-entry permit and a temporary resident permit had to be obtained for them. British subjects who were resident for five years on the appointed date were issued with temporary resident permits and the others were subject to the discretion of the Authority. Temporary resident permits issued in 1949 and 1950 are as follows:

	1949	1950
Indians	4000	34925
Indians	329	1467
Subjects
Other Aliens	-	401

Permanent Resident
Permanent resident permits were issued in small numbers. They were issued at the discretion of The issuing Authority to those who were genuinely interested to reside in the country and who had an abiding interest and love for the country. The number issued was 73 in 1959/50 135 applications were rejected.

There was a relative degree of Indian nationals entering the country to that of leaving the country to that of leaving the country, after the introduction of Immigration Laws.

The next problem for independent Sri Lanka was finding a solution to we say of resident Indians and Pakistanis. This was considered urgent and the Parliament passed the Indians and Pakistanis Citizenship Act 3 of 1949.

134,300 Indians and Pakistanis were issued with Ceylon Citizenship Certificates under the provisions of this Act.

The number of Indians who freely entered Ceylon under the British rule inclusive of those who entered illicitly and merged with locals together with the natural increase amounted to a couple of Hundred Thousands. This national problem was the course for concern for every successive government and discussions were held intermittently with the Indian Government with a view to finding a solution.

As a result of a discussion held in 1964 with Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri the Prime Ministry of India and Madam Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranayaka the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka it was possible to arrive at a historic solution. Accordingly, the number of stateless persons in Sri Lanka was estimated with the natural increase at 1,995,000. It was bi-laterally agreed to grant 375,000 persons with Sri Lanka Citizenship and 600.000 persons with Indian Citizenship. Action was mooted to give effect to the Indo Ceylon Agreement No 14 of 1967.

Citizenship Division
Citizenship division of the Ministry of Defence under the Citizenship Act No.18 of 1948 was transferred later on to the Immigration Department. Accordingly activities of the Department expanded. With an amendment to the Act in 1987 grant of Dual Citizenship was commenced.

Today the cadre consists of 702 persons when compared to 126 then. The Passports which was hand written to start with is computerised today. Forgeries have been prevented after switching into the electronic system. We are now in a position to print the extracts of information inclusive of the photograph in a matter of 30 seconds according to the specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the system of Passports issued in 1998 considered relatively is 329,548 with that of Passports issued in November to December 1950.

The Department of Immigration and Emigration which is an A grade Department under the Ministry of Interior contributes a major share for the economy of the country. The income derived during the past is shown below.

	SL RS
1994	589,919,050
1995	665,850,580
1996	792,789,458
1997	921,222,080
1998	1182,452,939
1999	1115,376,518
2000	1554,892,089
2001	1598,244,701

The Department provides a yeoman service by issuing Passports to those seeking employment in West Asian Countries. About Thousand same day Passports are issued on any working day. The Department has got the opportunity to contribute to the National Economy. The Department takes action daily to attend to the issue of Passports, Renewals and issue of Visas.

Today we believe in the global concept. Man made or natural barriers should not be an impediment to the Movement of Humans. Locals and foreigners apply for Passports and Visas for the purposes of employment, tourism, business or education etc. For this purpose the Department deals with 47 High Commissions / Embassies and 50 Consulates.

The Departments future aspirations are to link on line the Airport, Harbour and the issue of a state of the art travel document with a visa sticker acceptable to the world community. Action has been already initiated in this regard.

First Day Cover issued on October 2^nd 2000 celebrating the Golden Jubilee