Accordingly, the Controller General of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, Harsha Ilukpitiya, noted that measures in this regard have already been taken, adding that several foreign countries have also stepped forward to facilitate the shift.

Sri Lankans are likely to face yet another undue hardship in renewing or obtaining new passports for overseas travel within the next few months as a result of low levels of availability of two blank passport booklets at the immigration department.

The current stocks of blank passports may last only until August this year. Despite the situation, the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) has begun a process to call fresh tenders to replace the current passport with an e-passport and also to change the existing IT infrastructure with a new system to personalise passports.