The Prime Minister, Rui Maria de Araújo, launched the new ‘visa sticker’ for entry in Timor-Leste that will only be used in passports of tourists and people in transit.
The ceremony took place in Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Díli, on Tuesday, June 16th, 2015, with the placement of the visas directly on the passports of tourists arriving in Timor-Leste.
The Minister of the Interior, Longuinhos Monteiro, said that this system is very important and produces daily, weekly, monthly and yearly reports.
The system aims to significantly reduce document fraud. “We all know that, so far, they were given visas on paper. Thus, many people could duplicate visas,” said Longuinhos Monteiro.
Timor-Leste now has a modern system that meets the world standards for foreigners who pay for visas. Other visas, namely the courtesy visa, continue to use a stamp, because these are official visas.
The General Director of the Immigration Service, José da Costa, stated that the Government launched this system in February 2015. But it wasn’t implemented immediately because in the meantime the equipment broke down. “We presented this problem to the Sixth Constitutional Government, through the Ministry of the Interior, and thus we managed to get support to acquire this equipment,” he said.
In fact, the tourist visa should also have been implemented in the integrated posts and in the existing posts; but it was not yet possible, due to the lack of enough equipments.
Along with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Interior and the General Director of Immigration Services, the General Director for Corporate Services, F.S. Guilhermina Ribeiro, and the Inspector General of the Ministry of the Interior, Cândida Soares, also attended the ceremony.