Visa policy of Sri Lanka

Visitors to Sri Lanka must obtain a visa, either on arrival to Sri Lanka or in advance, unless they are a citizen of one of the visa-exempt countries. Most visitors entering for tourism purposes are required to obtain a visa on arrival, unless they are exempt from obtaining one.^[1] However, citizens of some countries must obtain a visa in advance before being allowed to enter Sri Lanka. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months.^[2]

Visa policy map

Sri Lanka

Visa not required (90 days)

Visa not required (60 days, 90 days within any 1 year)

Visa not required (30 days)

Free ETA or VoA (30 days)

Electronic Travel Authorization or visa on arrival (30 days)

Visa required in advance

Visa exemption

Ordinary passports

Citizens of the following countries do not need a visa to enter Sri Lanka, for stays up to the duration listed below:^[3]

Maldives (90 days)

Seychelles (60 days, 90 days within any 1 year)

Singapore (30 days)^[4]

Alternatively, nationals of visa-exempt countries who instead choose to apply for a "Standard tourist visa" online are exempt from paying visa fees.^[5]

Planned pilot visa-free program

On August 21, 2024, a cabinet decision was made to allow visa-free travel to 35 countries, including the USA, UK, Canada, Russia, Thailand, and Indonesia, from October 1, 2024. This pilot program to last for 6 months.^[6]^[7] On 1 October 2024 it was announced that the plan did not come into effect and that it needs to go through parliamentary approval process which needs to await for the new parliament to convene.^[8]

Non-ordinary passports

Holders of diplomatic, official, service or special passports of the following countries do not need a visa to enter Sri Lanka, for stays up to the duration listed below:^[3]^[9]^[10]

Bahrain² ^D ^Sp
Bangladesh² ^D ^O ^S
Belarus² ^D ^O
Benin² ^D ^O ^S
Brazil² ^D ^O ^S
Cambodia² ^D ^O ^S
Chile² ^D ^O
China² ^D ^O ^S ^PA

Cuba² ^D
Georgia⁴ ^D ^O ^S
Hong Kong² ^D ^O ^S ^Sp
India² ^D ^O
Indonesia² ^D ^O ^S
Iran² ^D ^O ^S
Kazakhstan² ^D ^S

Kenya² ^D ^O
Maldives¹ ^D ^O
Myanmar² ^D ^O ^S
Oman² ^D ^S ^Sp
Pakistan² ^D ^O
Philippines² ^D ^O ^S
Qatar² ^D ^O
Romania⁴ ^D

Russia² ^D ^O ^S
Seychelles³ ^D ^O
Singapore² ^D ^O ^S
Thailand² ^D ^O ^S
Ukraine⁵ ^D ^O ^S
Vietnam² ^D ^O ^S

_{D – Diplomatic passports}
_{O – Official passports}
_{S – Service passports}
_{Sp – Special passports}
_{PA – Passports endorsed for "public affairs".}
_{1 – 90 days}
_{2 – 30 days}
_{3 – 60 days, 90 days within any 1 year-period.}
_{4 – 90 days within any 180-day period.}
_{5 – 30 days within any 60-day period.}

Visa-waiver agreement for holders of Diplomatic, Official and Service Passports was signed with Benin in January 2024, however they have it is yet to come into force.^[11]

Visa on arrival

Citizens of all other countries except the visa-exempt countries and countries whose citizens require a visa in advance may obtain a visa on arrival which is good for double entry for tourist or good for multiple entries for business, valid for a maximum stay of 30 days. Visas obtained on arrival are generally discouraged as such visas are not automatically approved for entry into Sri Lanka.^[12]

Gratis visa on arrival

Due to the discontinuation of the e-Visa system, citizens of the following 7 countries may obtain a gratis visa (single entry) upon arrival in Sri Lanka for tourism purposes only, valid for a maximum stay of 30 days.^[13]

Electronic Visa

Citizens of all other countries except the countries whose citizens either require a visa obtained on arrival or in advance may also obtain an e-Visa online.^[1] The system was suspended in mid-2024 but restarted in September 2024.^[14]

Prospective visitors can apply for the following types of tourism/business e-Visas (unless otherwise noted):

Validity	Number of entry	Duration of stay^*	Visa fee	Note
30 days	Single	up to 30 days	Gratis	Only tourists who are citizens of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia or Thailand may obtain this type of visa. For more details see below.
6 months	Double	up to 60 days	35 or 75 USD	SAARC member states: 35 USD Non-SAARC member states: 75 USD
1 year	Multiple	up to 90 days	200 USD	People who engage diplomatic or consular activities may get visa fee waived.
2 years	Multiple	up to 180 days	300 USD
5 years	Multiple	up to 180 days	500 USD
10 years	Multiple	up to 180 days	1000 USD

_{* - Duration of stay demonstrates how many days visitor may stay in each entry.}

Moreover, a US$18.50 service fee^[15] as well as a US$5 "convenience fee" is charged by VFS Global for each visa application, regardless of the type of e-Visa.^[16]

e-Visa restrictions

Taiwan

Citizens of Taiwan must select "China (Special Administrative Region of China)" as their nationality when applying for an e-Visa.

Visa required in advance

Citizens of the following countries are ineligible to apply for both an e-Visa and a visa on arrival independently,^[2] and thus must obtain a visa in advance from one of the Sri Lankan diplomatic missions around the world:^[17]

When obtaining a visa at a Sri Lankan diplomatic mission, they must present the following documents:^[17]

Police clearance report
If the applicant is coming from another country after staying for more than 6 months, are required to provide Police clearance from that country and copy of the Visa
Certificate from a Sri Lankan guarantor & a photocopy of the guarantors NIC
Affidavit from a Sri Lankan JP (justice of peace) or a Lawyer
Accommodation information (place of stay)

Entry restrictions

Mandatory yellow fever vaccination

Citizens of the following countries must present a yellow fever vaccination certificate upon arrival in order to enter Sri Lanka:^[17]

History

In 2012, Sri Lanka launched an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system, created and operated by Mobitel, a state-owned enterprise.^[18]

On 17 April 2024, Sri Lanka replaced its previous Electronic Travel Authorisation system with a new e-Visa system,^[5] operated by VFS Global.^[15]^[18]

On 2 August 2024, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka issued an interim order, which suspended the e-Visa system operated by VFS Global and ordered the restoration of the previous ETA system operated by Mobitel.^[19]

On 4 August 2024, Ada Derana reported that the Ministry of Public Security would make a final decision the next day, and noted that the suspension of the e-Visa system meant that tourists needed to obtain their visas on arrival.^[20]

On 5 August 2024, the Department of Immigration and Emigration notified the Sri Lankan diplomatic missions around the world of the discontinuation of the e-Visa system.^[13] According to Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, the old ETA system has yet to be reinstated due to changes made to the Department of Immigration and Emigration's computer system.^[21]

On 2 September 2024, Sri Lanka decided to implement visa-free access for citizens of 38 countries, including India, China, Thailand, the UK, the USA, and Indonesia. Although it was initially planned to be implemented on 1 October 2024, the decision was advanced due to the inconvenience caused to tourists at the visa-on-arrival counters, where overcrowding was a significant issue.^[22]

Visitor statistics

Most visitors arriving in Sri Lanka on a short-term basis were from the following countries:^[23]^[24]

Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka
Country	9/2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
India	286,556	302,844	123,004	56,268	89,357	355,002	424,887
United Kingdom	136,464	130,088	85,187	16,646	55,455	198,776	254,176
Russia	127,232	197,498	91,272	16,984	49,397	86,549	64,497
Germany	99,571	102,539	55,542	12,442	34,507	134,899	156,888
China^[25]	97,267	68,789	4,715	2,417	26,147	167,863	265,965
France	71,090	56,251	35,482	6,549	24,838	87,623	106,449
Australia	62,004	67,436	30,924	4,421	20,283	92,674	110,928
United States	43,678	46,344	22,230	6,124	16,842	68,832	75,308
Netherlands	39,977	29,056	11,987	2,422	8,656	38,993	57,160
Maldives	34,457	37,298	18,880	6,272	9,407	60,278	76,108
Canada	33,007	43,944	26,845	5,079	12,346	48,729	52,681
Poland	30,636	17,946	15,195	2,110	11,908	20,896	20,378
Italy	29,346	22,242	7,449	1,309	8,603	36,147	38,379
Spain	28,014	23,905	12,895	2,015	3,385	24,489	29,208
Switzerland	22,277	23,556	13,260	2,974	6,389	29,981	33,965
Japan	22,260	19,583	3,087	392	6,644	30,079	49,450
Israel	20,515	19,517	9,326	1,724	3,556	14,770	13,833
Czech Republic	14,894	12,056	7,350	1,864	7,599	19,204	17,600
Malaysia	14,053	10,940	2,779	323	3,494	16,861	22,808
Belgium	13,645	10,667	6,164	1,283	3,371	14,948	17,519
Austria	12,080	10,594	5,541	1,502	4,300	14,713	19,320
Denmark	11,464	10,346	7,278	1,302	4,905	16,869	19,223
Pakistan	9,774	10,744	6,260	7,520	3,065	14,655	19,116
Kazakhstan	8,949	5,130	8,068	5,754	2,333	2,399	2,721
Norway	8,696	8,747	5,983	1,141	3,019	13,446	17,217
Iran	8,669	10,322	4,301	397	648	3,249	5,720
Singapore	8,666	9,551	3,770	557	2,545	13,871	19,861
New Zealand	8,025	7,913	2,866	325	2,324	12,463	13,825
Sweden	7,889	8,643	5,097	1,601	7,061	22,464	28,267
Belarus	7,592	10,969	3,621	646	2,638	4,796	4,621
South Korea	7,470	7,298	1,843	389	2,499	12,195	15,748
Taiwan	6,955	4,999	363	42	1,985	7,127	8,187
Ireland	6,248	5,136	3,056	559	2,294	8,254	10,830
Thailand	5,395	4,922	1,725	247	1,880	9,861	9,178
Ukraine	5,039	5,082	14,917	7,037	17,169	35,051	36,515
Turkey	4,841	3,739	1,514	309	2,121	4,972	4,262
Slovakia	4,822	4,464	2,432	664	1,513	4,944	5,289
Lithuania	4,755	2,722	2,115	383	1,054	2,793	3,386
Saudi Arabia	4,639	6,797	5,952	1,596	4,755	15,707	34,703
Hungary	4,523	3,786	2,324	445	1,588	4,091	4,514
Portugal	4,364	3,943	1,906	372	1,602	5,193	5,933
Romania	4,279	4,092	3,313	820	1,724	5,463	5,931
Philippines	3,977	4,164	1,961	529	4,249	14,590	19,303
South Africa	3,204	3,444	1,502	272	1,364	7,132	7,416
Nepal	3,076	4,750	1,065	325	1,384	5,414	5,302
Estonia	2,859	1,808	978	376	1,185	2,516	2,744
Egypt	2,840	3,091	2,340	400	956	3,708	3,854
Finland	2,753	2,287	1,500	341	2,298	7,028	8,888
Lebanon	2,575	3,347	1,606	547	483	4,304	5,521
Slovenia	2,370	1,927	602	91	800	2,926	3,902
Total	1,484,808	1,487,303	719,978	194,495	507,704	1,913,702	2,333,796