Sri Lanka eases refugee return rules for Tamils in India

Sri Lanka has approved special immigration arrangements for refugees in India returning without valid wartime travel documents. The move removes a major legal hurdle for UNHCR-assisted repatriation while keeping security screening in place.Sri Lanka has approved special immigration arrangements to help refugees in India return voluntarily if they left the island without valid travel documents during the civil war years. The government said the measures are meant to remove legal hurdles for those coming back under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), according to a cabinet note issued on Tuesday.Under the new arrangements, Sri Lankan nationals who left the country before August 1, 2006 without using a passport will be screened by the State Intelligence Service to verify that they have not been accused of murder, treason or other specified offences. The same arrangements will apply to those who left without valid documents between August 1, 2006 and May 19, 2009, when the civil war ended after nearly three decades of fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Those cleared through the screening process will be allowed to enter Sri Lanka through an authorised airport or port on temporary passports. They will not face legal proceedings under the country’s immigration law for having left through unauthorised routes, the cabinet note said. Those found to be accused of murder, treason or other specified offences will be detained at the port of entry and handed over to the relevant authorities for legal action.The decision comes amid longstanding difficulties over the voluntary return of Sri Lankan refugees from India. In May last year, a 75-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil refugee was arrested by immigration authorities at Palaly airport in Jaffna after returning from India. The man, who had lived for decades in a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu, had returned with clearances from the relevant authorities and with UNHCR assistance. He was later produced before a magistrate and remanded. The incident raised concerns over the legal difficulties that could face refugees returning to Sri Lanka after decades in India. Sri Lankan refugees began arriving in Tamil Nadu in large numbers after ethnic violence in 1983 and the subsequent escalation of the conflict between government forces and the LTTE. UNHCR has facilitated voluntary repatriation from India for more than two decades, with nearly 18,000 Sri Lankan refugees returning with its assistance between 2002 and February 2022. Sri Lankan government figures show that returns have continued since the end of the war, with the government saying in March this year that more than 18,500 people had returned from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka between January 2009 and June 2025.Despite these returns, a large refugee population remains in Tamil Nadu. About 89,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were living in and outside refugee camps in the state as of early 2026, according to Sri Lankan government estimates, and around 40 per cent of them were born in India. Many of those who remain have spent decades in India, with livelihoods, documentation and long-term legal status continuing to shape the challenges around their eventual return. With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 11, 2026 16:18 IST