Regarding the registration of organizations under the Voluntary Social Service Organizations (Registration and Supervision) Act No. 31 of 1980.

To bolster the national program on Anti-money laundering and countering  financing terrorism , a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organizations.

This is to inform you that, the Department of Immigration and Emigration has been restored the Electronic Travel Document (ETA) system on 27th September 2024. Thirty days (30) visa period is permitted from the date of arrival to Sri Lanka.

Due to temporary suspended e-Visa process of the Department of Immigration and Emigration NGO Secretariat started to recommend short-term entry visa applications to facilitate the requirement. Therefore ,a letter issued on 16.08.2024 ,to the Head of the organizations regarding
this. The letter and the relevant application can be downloaded from the following link

In order to develop the activities of non-governmental organizations and effectively get their contribution to the district development process, to make pre-preparations to face the problematic& disaster situations that arise in the divisional secretariat area, to act as a regional partner organization for the projects of international and national-level civil organizations and to manage the function of civil organizations, the Director General has issued Circular No. 11 on August 8, 2024 including necessary instructions regarding the establishment of “Divisional Federations of Civil Society Organizations”.

Accordingly, Circular No. 11, issued to inform all district secretaries, divisional secretaries, and all district non-governmental coordinators regarding the establishment of “Divisional Federations of Civil Society Organizations in the divisional secretariat in accordance with the model constitution stated in the circular, can be obtained from the following link.

Download Circular No 11

Due to increase in the number of complaints received daily from their members and various parties that the financial affairs of voluntary social service organizations are not properly audited, the Director General has issued Circular No 10 on 29.07.2024 to streamline the audit process of those organizations.

The SL VOLUNTEERS Project, coordinate by the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organizations under the Ministry of Public Security, seeks the engagement of volunteers across 25 districts of Sri Lanka.

Director General/Registrar's letter No. VSSO/NGO/REG/Circular/01 and dated 25.04.2024 has further relaxed the existing system for registering new organizations at the district and divisional levels.

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