Sri Lanka and Thailand have agreed to expedite arrangements for a visa exemption for ordinary passport holders, following a meeting in Bangkok between Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath and Thailand’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Sarun Charoensuwan.
The proposed arrangement is expected to facilitate travel and tourism and promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, the Daily Mirror and NewsFirst both reported.
The two sides also discussed expanding cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, labour mobility, education, maritime security and cultural exchanges, and reaffirmed a commitment to deepening bilateral relations.
The timing matters
The talks come one day after Sri Lankan travellers lost the access this exemption would restore.
Thailand ended visa-free entry for Sri Lankan passport holders on 15 September, under revised rules published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August and notified by the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo. Sri Lanka was among 21 nationalities dropped from the scheme altogether, while the wider arrangement shrank from 93 countries eligible for 60-day stays to 60 countries eligible for 30 days. Thai authorities framed the review, approved by their Cabinet in May, around concerns about online scam operations, unauthorised foreign workers and grey-market enterprises.
Herath said on 9 September that Bangkok had proposed a separate bilateral agreement creating a special visa category for Sri Lankans. Wednesday’s meeting is the first reported progress on that track since the removal took effect — though the language has shifted, from a “special arrangement” visa category in September to a “visa exemption” now.
Herath is in Thailand on an official visit during which the two countries signed two labour agreements on 14 September, confirming Thai approval for an initial intake of 10,000 Sri Lankan workers.
Not reported
Neither outlet says what the proposed exemption would grant — length of stay, whether it covers tourism only, or whether it restores anything equivalent to the 60-day access withdrawn. Neither gives a target date for concluding it, says what steps remain on either side, or reports whether Thailand has attached conditions.
Neither addresses the gap now open: Sri Lankans travelling to Thailand from 15 September require a visa, and no outlet reports how long that will remain the case or what the visa costs. Neither gives the number of Sri Lankans who travel to Thailand annually, the figure that would establish what the change is worth.
Neither explains why Sri Lanka’s counterpart was Thailand’s Acting Foreign Minister, or reports any statement from the Thai side.
