Belarus has decided to waive the arrival visa fee charged to Sri Lankan students travelling there for the first time to begin higher education, Hiru News reported on Saturday.
The decision is presented as an outcome of the official visit Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath made to Belarus in May 2026, during which he called on President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on a four-day programme that was expected to produce agreements across education, health and trade.
Separately, steps have begun to simplify the visa process for family members of Sri Lankan students already studying in Belarus who wish to visit them.
Taken together, the two measures are expected to benefit students planning to enrol in Belarusian institutions as well as the families of those already there.
What is not yet clear
The filing does not state the size of the fee being waived, when the exemption takes effect, whether it is open-ended or time-limited, or how many Sri Lankan students are currently enrolled in Belarus. It does not say which Belarusian authority issued the decision or whether it has been formalised in a bilateral instrument, and it does not describe how far the family-visit simplification has progressed beyond “steps begun”.
Readers should note that the measure is described as covering first-time arrivals for higher education, not Sri Lankan travellers to Belarus generally.
Sourcing note
Hiru News was the only verified newsroom carrying this at the time of writing. Searches returned no corresponding filing from the Daily Mirror, NewsFirst, EconomyNext, Daily FT or Colombo Gazette, and Ada Derana has been unreachable for several days. Announcements of this kind typically originate with the Foreign Ministry and are often picked up by other outlets over the following day, so the single source here reflects timing rather than a dispute about the facts.