The Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism has suspended all document attestation services until further notice after an unexpected technical failure of the Electronic Document Attestation System (e-DAS).
The Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the suspension applies to the Consular Affairs Division headquarters in Battaramulla as well as all five Regional Consular Offices in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Kandy, Matara and Kurunegala.
Steps have already been taken, in coordination with technical service providers and other stakeholders, to restore the e-DAS system and resume normal services without further delay, the Ministry added. No timeline has been given for restoration.
Applicants who have already secured online appointments through the e-Channeling system have been asked to monitor that platform for further updates. Once the system is back online, all affected applicants will be notified.
The disruption is likely to weigh on departing workers, students and emigrants — particularly those headed to Gulf states — who depend on Foreign Ministry attestations on educational certificates, marriage certificates, police clearances and employment documents before they can be apostilled or recognised abroad. The Consular Affairs Division said it regretted the inconvenience caused and thanked the public for its patience during the unforeseen disruption.
The e-DAS platform was rolled out to replace paper-based attestation queues at Battaramulla and the regional offices, and is the sole channel through which the Ministry currently processes attestation requests. There has been no indication from the Ministry as to whether the failure is linked to a wider government IT incident or is confined to e-DAS infrastructure alone.
