The Government Information Center

Issuance of Recommendation for Residence Visa

DOC is the authorized agency to issue recommendations for Resident Visa (RV) to the expatriates who are employed by the Liaison Offices/Branch Offices of foreign companies and Trade & Commercial ventures of which presence falls directly under the purview of Ministry of Export Development and International Trade.

The company or an organization that is willing to recruit a foreign national, has to make a request to the Department of Emigration & Immigration, prior to the arrival of the expatriate, giving details such as the name and nationality, duration of stay in Sri Lanka, nature of the assignment etc. along with the recommendation of the line Ministry. The CI&E, on receipt of the above request and recommendations will inform the relevant Sri Lanka Mission abroad to issue Entry Visa for the applicant valid for 30 days with instructions to apply on arrival for RV valid for longer duration.

Regarding the renewal of RV; the applicant has to make a request to the Director General of Commerce with adequate reasons to justify continuity of the employee's stay in Sri Lanka.
The DOC, in the process of issuing RV recommendations, will draw attention to ensure that the presence of the expatriate worker in Sri Lanka is essential according to the given reasons, it does not, under any circumstances mitigate job opportunities of the Sri Lankans, RV applicant's presence is beneficial to the country from the national economic point of view and the employer has made reasonably adequate efforts to identify a suitable replacement locally.

Procedures

Application forms

Application form can be obtained from the Department of Commerce, 4th Floor, “Rakshana Mandiraya”, 21, Vauxhall Street, Colombo 02 or download from www.doc.gov.lk

Application Form Format

Charges
Adults - Rs. 15,000 + VAT
Children - Rs. 7,000 + VAT

Duration taken for the service

New Applications - 20 days
Renewals- 15 days

Working days

Monday to Friday (Except Gov. holidays)

Supporting Documents to be submitted with Residence Visa Application

•Request letter
•Company profile
•Copy of Memorandum of Articles
•Copy of business registration with boar of directors and share holders information
•Financial statements of the company – recent 2 years and Bank account details.
•Copy of the passport with SL Immigration & Emigration endorsed page
•Copy of the letter of contract of employment / Power of Attorney
•Bio Data of applicant
•Company guarantee of bearing his / her tenancy and other expenses in Sri Lanka
•Six months bank statements of the applicant
•A report comprising of following information
- Plan of action for the next year
- Latest organizational structure, including the total number of foreign employees and total number of local employees together with their capacity in the organization and their salary particular
•For dependants; A letter of guarantee from the applicant that the dependants who are above 18 and below 65 confirming they would not undertake any employment in Sri Lanka
•Copy of the Rental contract for the office premises/ residence and its renewals.
•True copy of Agency contract
•Utility payments bills (Electricity/ Water/ Telephone) and for Residence Water/ Electricity for past few years.

(Applicable only for renewals)

• Copy of previous recommended letters, by this Ministry or any other agency if any.
• A report comprising of following information
� - Progress during the last few years in general and last year in particular together with the areas of activities undertaken by the applicant in detail
� - Plan of action for the next year
� - Latest organizational structure, including the total number of foreign employees and total number of local employees together with their capacity in the organization and their salary particular
• Proofs for tax payments (certified copies of tax return/slips)