Sri Lanka’s BOI Launches Long Term Residence Visa Scheme for Investors, Stakeholders, and BOI Enterprises

Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment (BOI), the country’s investment promotion agency, launched a new residence visa program for foreign investors on 1 July 2022.

The scheme grants 5 years of legal residence in Sri Lanka to investors, stakeholders, and owners or high officials of BOI-registered firms. Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment annually issues 7500-8000 visa recommendations for investors, employees, and dependents.

The new residence visa program aims at addressing “the prime need to provide a seamless and convenient service for investors”, said Sri Lankan Investment Promotion Minister Dhammika Perera, who also recalled the long documentation process that investors had to go through every year before this program. “The happiness on the faces of those investors present at the occasion, implies that the newly launched visa residence scheme is a success”, he added.

“It is certainly a pleasure to see all our long-standing investors on this special day of launching the long-term residence visa program for investors”, said Renuka M. Weerakone, Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. “You all have been the contributors towards 65% of export earnings to Sri Lanka and have stood by us even in times of difficult periods that our country faced, which we wish to acknowledge with great gratitude”.

Renuka M. Weerakone also explained that the residence visa application can be carried out online. “The BOI is also using an online facility for Defense clearance and plans to introduce the same mechanism with the Department of Immigration and Emigration”, she added.

Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment has already granted visas to nationals of around 109 countries, including Pakistan, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Japan, and the United Kingdom. People from these countries are the ones that applied the most to Sri Lanka’s BOI visas, according to statistics from last year.

With the new 5-year residence visa program for investors, stakeholders, and BOI enterprises, Sri Lankan authorities aim at attracting more investors to the country. The program makes the visa process easier for investors as they will not have to renew their visa applications every year from now on.