Duty free allowances to be increased for migrant workers from May 1

By Kalani Kumarasinghe

The duty free allowances for goods purchased at the airport by migrant workers will be increased from May 1, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said.
"Cabinet approval was granted to permit migrant workers to import an electric vehicle, apply for housing loans and receive additional tax concessions. 

Accordingly to the new programme, migrant workers will be entitled to additional customs duty concessions based on the amount of funds they have remitted to local bank accounts.
“These new concessions are a duty concession scheme introduced in addition to the existing concessions. The programme will be implemented under five categories for migrant workers who have remitted funds to a local bank account of their own or a joint bank account,” Labour Ministry Additional Secretary K. D. R. Olga explained.

Accordingly, workers who have remitted an amount between USD 2,400 and 4,799 are eligible for an additional duty free allowance of USD 600 under the Silver category. Workers who have remitted between USD 4,800 and 7,199 will be eligible for the additional duty concession of USD 960 under the Silver Plus category. Under the Gold category, migrant workers who have remitted between USD 7,200 and USD 11,999 are entitled to an additional duty free allowance of USD 1,440. Workers remitting an amount between USD 12,000 and USD 23,999 are entitled to receive concessions of USD 2,400 duty free allowance under the Gold Plus category. 

Under the Platinum category, workers who have remitted USD 24,000 or more are eligible for an additional USD 4,800 duty free allowance when purchasing goods at the airport.
Migrant workers will be able to view the concessions they are eligible for by registering with ‘Lanka Remit’ the mobile application for national remittance, launched by the Central Bank last year.