The Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration and Labour, the Hon. Mr. Kenneth Hodge, announced the launch of an e-visa portal that will facilitate persons overseas who require a visa to travel to Anguilla. The new portal will enable visitors to apply online directly to the Anguilla Immigration Department. The announcement was made on Monday, January 11th, at the first Government’s press conference for 2021.
The convenient facility, in fact, was launched on the very day of the press conference. According to Mr. Hodge, “As of today, persons can go online to submit their visa applications. The fact that we can handle this process in-house is a first for Anguilla. Now, instead of persons applying to various embassies, they have the convenience of applying directly to Anguilla. One noteworthy advantage here is that the funds related to the cost of the visa are received directly by Anguilla’s treasury.”
Mr. Hodge described the portal as a very easy interface with three steps: 1. The potential visitor is asked for his or her country of origin, and at that point the system lets him or her know if a visa is required for the visit, and if so all fields are filled out completely; 2. Payment is processed online; 3. The document maybe printed for the traveler’s records.
The Minister said the portal is very user friendly – and easy on the eye with an excellent tourism flare. He complimented the capable staff of the Department of Information Technology and E-Government Services (DITES) for its technical expertise demonstrated in creating this innovative tool for the Department of Immigration. The Department of Immigration’s e-visa website is: https://evisa.gov.ai.
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harigan
