Inmates of a Sri Lankan refugee camp at Pavalathanur near Tharamangalam in Salem, Tamil Nadu. File
| Photo Credit: Lakshmi Narayanan E
Colombo
Sri Lankan immigration authorities will henceforth allow refugees living in India to return to the island nation even if they had fled the war-torn country without a valid passport or through an unapproved port of departure.
The Sri Lanka Cabinet, which met on Monday (August 10, 2026), decided that the government would “facilitate clearance of immigration when the individuals who had left the country without using an approved port and a formal passport during the period of the war, sought refuge in India, but proved the nationality as Sri Lankan and returning to their motherland voluntarily”, according to a media statement following this week’s Cabinet decisions.
The decision assumes significance amid concerns raised by refugee rights activists over the detention of a few returnees last year. In May 2025, the arrest of a 75-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil refugee returning from India on charges of leaving the island without a valid passport drew attention. Sri Lankan authorities said they would address the issue. A total of 246 people from 46 families had returned from India to Sri Lanka between July 2025 and February 2026, with no arrests reported during the period, authorities subsequently pointed out.
However, to put in place formal procedures to facilitate the return of refugees, the government has now obtained instructions from the public prosecutor on immigration clearance. These include verification of the returnee’s identity, clearance from Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service, authentication of Sri Lankan nationality through Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions in India for those displaced before August 1, 2006; and confirmation that the individuals have not committed murder, treason or any other offence prescribed under special provisions by law.
Sri Lanka ‘ready to welcome and support’ refugees from India
In March this year, Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake told The Hindu that Sri Lanka is ready to receive and support all those forced to flee the country during the civil war and now living as refugees in Tamil Nadu. He also urged the governments of India and Tamil Nadu to refrain from using refugees as “a tool for political propaganda”.
The Minister made the remarks in the context of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s February 15, 2026, letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the Union government’s intervention on issues facing Sri Lankan Tamils living in India for over four decades. According to the letter, around 89,000 refugees reside in and outside camps across Tamil Nadu, with nearly 40% of them having been born in India.
Published – August 12, 2026 04:52 pm IST
