It’s not the number of foreigners we want or need to live here in Sri Lanka that we should be thinking about, says The Man. It’s the type.
He and the banker buddy are discussing the ongoing crackdown on ‘bad-foreigner’ visa miscreants, most notably Russians, Ukrainians and Israelis.
These overstaying ‘tourists’, who are running illegal businesses down south, are reportedly being helped by underworld organizations with powerful political connections.
The problem, he says, is twofold. First, they are hurting local enterprises with their unfair competition. Second, the untaxed profits are being laundered back to their home countries, which hurts the economy.
Just as bad, if not worse, he says, is the friction and bad blood these people are creating with the locals, which can provoke hostile confrontations that negatively impact the local tourism industry.
Then we have the ‘good’ foreigners: retirees and semi-retirees who just want a quiet life in our tropical paradise, and digital nomads who enjoy the lifestyle as they work online for their various homeland enterprises.
So while those ‘bad’ foreigners are a liability, the ‘good’ foreigners are a double benefit because they bring in much-needed foreign exchange while also supporting their local communities.
Speaking as a National List MP, he says, my worry is that this focus on the miscreants is obscuring the need for a national debate on whether we need more such ‘good’ foreigners to bolster the economy, and if so, how many.
A good question, says the banker buddy. Many of our competitor tourism destinations in the region positively encourage such expats, and make it as easy as possible for them to obtain resident visas.
But so far as I know, and correct me if I’m wrong, that’s not the case here. In fact, from what I’ve been told, some immigration officials make applying for and renewing resident visas through, er, official channels more than somewhat difficult…
Meanwhile, what exactly are we talking here? What are the numbers? How many, and how much?
Well, said The Man, by my reckoning, a quarter million such expats, which is not unreasonable, would bring in an average of at least $2,000 a month. That adds up to a cool $6 billion a year—a nice boost for the economy!
Moreover, he says, I was in the House when the Prime Minister raised the Government’s serious concerns about these rogue foreigners doing business on tourist visas, and I share those concerns.
But how much thought has she given to the flip side of the argument? Does she intend to emulate our competitors and actively promote and expedite the benefits of thriving expat communities?
It’s a question I intend to raise in Parliament at the first opportunity, and which I hope will have the full support of all far-sighted and right-thinking fellow MPs.
Meanwhile, he says, in the words of celebrated US urban studies theorist Professor Richard Florida: ‘The most successful cities and economies are those that attract and retain global talent, including expats and digital nomads, who bring innovation, spending power, and a network effect that drives economic growth.’
And to quote the UK’s Economist Intelligence Unit: ‘Countries that implement visa programs to attract high-income remote workers benefit from increased consumer spending, tax revenues, and the diversification of their workforce.’