o Travellers to incur high flight ticket prices o Should have a place to observe 14-day quarantine With limited flight operations to four destinations commencing last week, some of the migrant workers who were unable to return to their workplaces overseas will be able to fly back. According to Korea Support Centre for Foreign Workers Counsellor Pushpa Premalal, at least 300 migrant workers from Korea had returned to Sri Lanka prior to the Covid-19 outbreak and after as well. Many of them had arrived in Sri Lanka for a vacation and were stuck in the country due to the airport shutting down. Moreover, flights are scheduled to operate from 1 June onwards from Korea and those whose work visas have expired can book flights to leave to Sri Lanka. Premalal cautioned that the flight tickets are quite pricey at this time since flights are bringing in half the amount of passengers. He also noted that the flight route through Singapore (one-way ticket costing Rs. 500,000 upwards) is still closed. Therefore, the safest method to get back to Sri Lanka would be through Narita, Japan and can cost up to Rs. 1.4 million due to the present situation. “With the outbound flights commencing operations last week, a batch arrived in Narita, Japan on 14 May. The next flight is scheduled to bring another batch on 28 May. Similarly those who wish to come back to Sri Lanka can also do the same after 1 June via Narita, Japan,” Premalal said. Since the 14-day quarantine period is still in effect for persons travelling to Sri Lanka and for persons who are returning to Korea, many of them are reluctant to travel at this time, Premalal observed. On 1 April, the Republic of Korea required all inbound travellers to be subject to self-quarantine or facility quarantine, to prevent the Covid-19 global pandemic from spreading. Therefore, with effect from 11 May, the Republic of Korea requires all workers with E-9 visas to be subject to self-quarantine and submit the confirmation document certified by the Director of the EPS (Employment Permit System) Centre of the HRD (Human Resources Development Service) Korea in Sri Lanka to the Government of the Republic of Korea. Accordingly, those who have come to Sri Lanka for a short vacation with or without a release letter and who wish to return to South Korea under re-entry, should contact their employer before entering Korea and confirm the possibility of workplace quarantine. If not, they are to contact the Sri Lankan Embassy in Korea to have a place to quarantine in or obtain the information about the quarantine facilities they are supposed to receive in person. All foreign workers are required to possess the original confirmation of self-quarantine documents with them when travelling to South Korea. Failure to do so will lead to deportation in some cases. The procedure is as follows: Step 1: The worker should duly fill the confirmation document and send a clear scan copy to the EPS Centre via email; epscenterlk@yahoo.com (do include: address in Korea, cell phone number in Korea, etc.). The returnee must have a separate place where they can spend the quarantine period (14 days) and not use group accommodation in any way. The place should be equipped with a separate washroom/toilet and cannot be shared with another party. Step 2: The information will be exchanged with the head office of the HRD, Korea in order to verify the quarantine facility given by the worker. Step 3: Once the information is verified by the head office, the EPS Centre in Sri Lanka will contact you. Step 4: The worker will visit the EPS Centre in Sri Lanka (upon a given time by the EPS Centre) to collect the original certified document by the Director of the EPS Centre. The worker must bring the filled original document when visiting the EPS Centre. For more information, the Sri Lanka EPS Centre can be contacted on 0112 886 945 or through 1989 (the 24-hours call centre – Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment). All attempts made to contact the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment proved futile.