Burma Begins Trial Run for Online Tourism Visas
August 14, 2014 – 10:16 am
Burma’s Ministry of Immigration and Population this week began a trial period for an online tourism visa application system that is due to be fully implemented next month.
During the trial run, applicants are required to fill out an online visa form, verify that all the information entered is correct and make an online credit card payment. Applicants will receive a visa approval letter via email and are then eligible to have their passport stamped upon arrival by presenting a print-out of the electronic approval letter.
Following submission of an application, the approval process will take up to five days and the online visa costs US$50 per applicant. From the date that the approval letter is received, applicants have up to 90 days to enter Burma, where they can stay for a maximum of 28 days.
Previously, travellers to Burma were required to apply in person at a Burmese Embassy abroad.
The launch of the e-visa system comes tourist numbers to Burma continue to swell. Foreign arrivals through the first seven months of this year rose 43 percent compared with the same period in 2013, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism announced last week.
January through July 2014 tallied 1,604,746 arrivals, compared with 1,121,795 over the first seven months of 2013.
