Sri Lanka’s government has introduced a free visa scheme for some countries -- not for any ethnic or religious groups

The photo and misleading claim were published in this Facebook post on September 2, 2019. The post has been shared more than 3800 times. 

The post contains a photograph of a street in Colombo crowded with men and women in Islamic dress typically worn by the Bohra Muslim minority group. 

The text across the top of the image says: “The government comes forward to uplift the tourism industry. Free visa for Bohra Muslims until 2025”. 

Bohras are a sect of Muslims, with an estimated population of about one million people, including a small community in Sri Lanka.

The misleading Facebook post’s Sinhala-language caption translates to English as: “Not sure what to say”.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post: 

The same image has also been shared here on Facebook with a caption which states: “Cabinet approval was given today to grant free visa for Bora Muslims up to year 2025 to visit Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the Bora Muslims who come to Sri Lanka will be able to remain in this country for another five years until the year 2025. The government has taken this step to promote Sri Lanka's tourism industry.”

The same image was also shared with a similar claim here on Facebook. 

The claim is false; Sri Lanka’s government has not granted free visas to Bohra Muslims until 2025.

Sri Lanka’s Immigration and Emigration Department told AFP the government had not taken any measures to introduce a free visa scheme for Bohra Muslims.

“There is no truth to the claim that the government has implemented a free visa scheme for Bohra Muslims. Electronic Travel Authorizations have been granted for the visitors who travelled to Sri Lanka for the Bohra conference,” spokesman B.G.G. Milinda told AFP by phone on September 4, 2019.

A Bohra Muslim conference opened September 1, 2019 in Colombo, according to Facebook posts and local media reports.

Milinda told AFP that the Bohras who have travelled to Sri Lanka for the Conference were in the country on Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) that would expire in 30 days. 

Sri Lanka’s free visa scheme was introduced on August 1, 2019 and runs until January 31, 2020. It covers 48 designated countries, according to the official post about the scheme here. 

Below is a screenshot of the list of designated countries eligible for free visa:

“The free visa scheme is not targeting a specific religious group or a community - only designated countries. But if a Bohra who travelled to Sri Lanka was a national of a designated country, their visa fee was waived,” Milinda said.

The Colombo Dawoodi Bohra community told AFP that community members who visited Sri Lanka for the conference were only granted a 30-day ETA Tourist visa.

“All visitors to the Dawoodi Bohra convention of Ashara Mubaraka have been issued a regular ETA tourist visa for 30 days,” they said in an email on September 5, 2019.

Visitors for the conference arrived from countries including India, Australia, UAE, USA and the UK -- some of which were eligible for free visas.

The image used in the misleading post has been taken from an album uploaded to the Dawoodi Bohra official Facebook page published on September 1, 2019, which can be seen here.  

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading post (L) and the image from the Facebook page (R ): 

The Government welcomed Bohra Muslim conference as a move that would help revive the tourism industry hard-hit after Easter Sunday bombings. 

The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings have adversely affected Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, according to an AFP report  published here.

The image used in the misleading Facebook post was Station Road in Colombo 04, as seen below in the screenshot comparison below: