The second obstacle is that to secure a letter from the Ministry of Digital Economy, you have to provide an entirely separate set of documents and have an interview, either in person or online. To add to the confusion, there’s currently zero information online about how to go about obtaining a recommendation letter from the Ministry of Digital Economy. So I visited their Colombo office in person and was swiftly redirected to the well-run Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), also in the city.
A recommendation letter from the Ministry of Digital Economy
After visiting the ICTA (the company that facilitates the recommendation process), they issued me a checklist listing all of the documents I would need to obtain to get a letter from the Ministry. Many of the documents required for this segment are the same as the ones required by the Immigration office, including health insurance and proof of monthly income, but I also had to provide a letter from one of my clients (or employer, if you’re not freelance like me), my educational qualifications (which I had to reorder through my university since I graduated close to two decades ago), open a local bank account and provide proof that I’d registered with Sri Lanka’s Inland Revenue Department, which can be done online.
Two copies of every document, along with an application form, need to be submitted to the ICTA, after which a letter will be issued to be collected in person at the Ministry of Digital Economy office. It’s worth noting that this part of the process was efficient and well run, with plenty of advice and support along the way.
While it’s possible to start the digital nomad visa process online outside Sri Lanka, many requirements, such as obtaining health clearance and opening a local bank account, can only be completed within the country, which may deter some potential digital nomads. But the government has already stated that they are being extra cautious in regards to how many visas they’ll issue within the first year, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
The Digital Nomad Visa
