Going to Sri Lanka? – VISA requirements for the Pearl of the Indian Ocean

Traveling the world has become more and more accessible to more people. While some countries require to get a physical VISA in your passport via the embassy, other countries may require only your passport to be stamped and give you Visa on arrival for a certain amount of time (some are free, some have a fixed fee for the Visa on Arrival). Sri Lanka requires to get the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) before coming, and it has to be done online.

Once you submit the application – you will have either approval or denial letter via email within 24 hours.

Fee for the visa was 50$ US and free for children 12 and under (our group had US and EU passports and you can see in the picture that it has different fees for different countries).

There are various VISAS available for this beautiful country, but we chose 30 day Visas as we are headed to travel further into Asia. You can fill out the VISA applications here: SRI LANKA VISA ONLINE – make sure you fill out correct information as it may result to re-do the application and pay again.

You will also need to fill out the Arrival Card once you land, but you can easily do that process online and save time at the airport- you can fill out the Arrival Card here:

https://eservices.immigration.gov.lk/emb/eEmbarkation/’#/home-page. Make sure you have received the approval email for your Visa application- you may not get the Arrival Card done unless you have a valid ETA.

After we got everything done online – to pass the immigration In Colombo International Airport was a breeze sail and took just a few minutes.

Hopefully this information is of value for your travels! Thank you for reading!