Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)
With effect from 1st January 2012, all holiday or business travellers visiting Sri Lanka must have a valid Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to enter Sri Lanka.
Please visit www.eta.gov.lk for more information.
The ETA requirement is applicable to all nationalities except nationals of the Republic of Maldives, the Republic of Singapore and the Republic of Seychelles, who on the basis of reciprocity, are exempt from this requirement. (Those who hold passports of listed countries in this URL and travel to Sri Lanka from 01.08.2019 to 31.01.2020 for tourist purposes are exempted paying ETA fee, in view of enhancing tourist arrivals from designated countries – Department of Immigration & Emigration of Sri Lanka)
When applying ETA by third parties, payments should be made through the provision on our website www.eta.gov.lk and an acknowledgment should be received. Any payments made to other websites or agencies are not valid to process a valid ETA. Therefore, always ensure that the payments made by accessing to www.eta.gov.lk website and avoid making repayment at the port of entry to Sri Lanka. (Visa will not be issued for Syria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana,Ivory Coast and North Korea Nationalities)
The purpose of the Sri Lankan visa is to facilitate the legal entry of non-Sri Lankans into Sri Lanka and to regulate the length and conditions applicable on their stay.
The competent authority for issuing Sri Lankan visas is the Department of Immigration and Emigration. Diplomatic Missions of Sri Lanka abroad are authorized to issue visa on behalf of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, Sri Lanka.
Launching of New Sri Lanka Visa Sticker
The Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka has introduced a new Machine Readable Visa Sticker (MRV), replacing the present visa issuance system, which complies with the standards of ICAO, while also incorporating universally recognized security features.
The newly introduced visa sticker has been launched with effect from 15 June 2016 at the Head Office of the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Colombo.