Battered by economic crisis, Sri Lankans seek passport to a better life

Officials prepare the passports of the applicants at the Sri Lanka's Immigration and Emigration Department, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 8, 2022. Picture taken June 8,2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO (Reuters) - R.M.R Lenora stood in a snaking queue outside Sri Lanka's Immigration and Emigration Department headquarters for two days last week, hoping to get a passport and, with it, a chance to leave a country wilting under an economic crisis.

A garment worker, 33-year-old Lenora decided to apply for a job as a maid in Kuwait after her husband was laid off from a small restaurant where he worked as a cook.