What the ETA is
Sri Lanka issues an Electronic Travel Authorisation in place of a stamped visa for most nationalities, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the rest of the EU. It grants a 30-day double-entry stay for tourism and is normally approved within 24 to 48 hours.
Applying
Apply only through the official government portal. Third-party sites charge three to five times the government fee for the same document. You will need a passport valid for six months beyond arrival, a return or onward ticket, and the address of your first night accommodation. We send you a confirmation letter with this on it as soon as your tour is confirmed.
Common reasons applications stall
Passport number typed with the wrong character (0 versus O is the usual culprit), a name that does not exactly match the passport including middle names, and an accommodation address left blank. If your approval has not arrived in 72 hours, check your spam folder before reapplying. Duplicate applications cause more delay than they solve.
At the airport
Bring a printed copy of the approval even though it is electronic. Immigration at Bandaranaike is usually quick; expect longer queues between 1am and 4am when the European flights land together. Our driver waits in arrivals regardless of delay, at no extra charge.
Extending your stay
Thirty days can be extended to 90 at the Department of Immigration in Colombo. It takes half a day and costs around USD 100. If you already know you want longer, tell us and we will build the office visit into a Colombo day rather than lose a beach morning to it.
