Sri Lankans living overseas who hold a valid Sri Lankan driving licence face no obstacle to driving legally when they return home, Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake told Parliament in a special statement on Friday.
The minister, who holds the Transport, Highways and Urban Development portfolio, set out three positions, Hiru News reported.
A Sri Lankan who holds a valid licence issued in this country and who has been living abroad has full entitlement to use that licence to drive lawfully, without any impediment, on returning.
A citizen who obtained a driving licence in a foreign country and surrendered their Sri Lankan licence to that country’s authority in the process can obtain a normal Sri Lankan licence by submitting the relevant documents.
Someone whose Sri Lankan licence has been lost can make an ordinary complaint and have a new licence prepared, under the standard procedure.
Why the statement was made
Hiru does not say what prompted the clarification, and the filing does not identify an MP whose question occasioned it or name any specific case. The statement is described as a special statement — a formal intervention rather than an answer at question time.
It follows a run of licensing difficulties this desk has covered. The Department of Motor Traffic has been working through a backlog of about 678,000 licences awaiting printing, printing was halted in October over a card shortage, and the department has warned applicants against brokers offering to speed the process. A separate set of changes — a demerit-points scheme from 1 April and periodic vehicle fitness tests — is also in train.
Not reported
The filing does not say which documents a returning citizen must produce to recover a surrendered licence, where they are submitted, what fee applies, or how long the process takes. It does not say whether a foreign licence may be used in Sri Lanka in the interim, nor whether any of this involves a change of policy or is a restatement of existing rules. It gives no guidance on international driving permits.
Nor does it address the position of a returning citizen whose Sri Lankan licence has expired while abroad, which is distinct from the three cases the minister covered.
Ada Derana also carried the clarification. Its pages have returned a CloudFront 403 to this desk for 37 consecutive days, so no publication date could be extracted for it and it is named here rather than cited as a source. No other verified newsroom had filed at the time of writing.
Source: Hiru News, 24 October (Sinhala).