The Sri Lankan government has launched a new initiative to issue copies of birth, marriage, and death certificates to Sri Lankans living abroad through Sri Lankan embassies. This move aims to provide greater convenience to the expatriate community, according to the President’s Media Division (PMD).
The programme will begin as a pilot project across seven selected foreign missions, including embassies in Kuwait, Japan, and Qatar, as well as consulates in Melbourne (Australia), Toronto (Canada), Milan (Italy), and Dubai (UAE).
In Sri Lanka, efforts are also underway to enhance the e-BMD (electronic Birth, Marriage, and Death) database system, which is jointly managed by the Registrar General’s Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The PMD stated, “This system will allow birth, marriage, and death certificates to be issued through foreign embassies, following a model already in place for obtaining certificates at Divisional Secretariat offices across Sri Lanka.”
In the initial phase, only approximately 45 million birth, marriage, and death certificates that have already been scanned and stored in the e-BMD system will be issued. These records will include registrations dating back to January 1, 1960. While most records will be available, there may be occasional delays in updating certificates that have been revised since their initial entry into the database, the statement added.
