Sri Lanka entry requirements, by passport
Sri Lanka visa requirements at a glance: 193 of the 198 passports VisaRadar tracks can enter Sri Lanka without arranging a visa beforehand: visa-free, with a visa on arrival, or with an electronic travel authorisation. The other 5 must obtain a visa before they travel.
Which passport do you hold?
We'll take you straight to the entry requirements for Sri Lanka for your nationality.
What we've verified for Sri Lanka
Beyond the yes/no matrix, we've checked these against an official primary source (last checked 17 September 2026). The specifics depend on your nationality: open your passport's row in the table for the detail that applies to you.
- Required documents (2)
- Required vaccinations
- Health-insurance rules
- Customs limits (cash, alcohol, tobacco)
- Overstay penalties
- Stay and transit rules
Sources: immigration.gov.lk (Sri Lanka's Department of Immigration and Emigration: "Special Notice to the Short Term Visitors to Sri Lanka": free tourist ETA since 25 May 2026 for nationals of 40 countries, Spain included; the ETA being compulsory for all foreign nationals; 30 days with double entry; extension on payment); eta.gov.lk (official ETA portal; full fee table by nationality and type: US$50 general tourist, US$20 SAARC, US$60 on arrival, free two-day transit, free for children under 12); customs.gov.lk (Sri Lanka Customs; "Travellers" and FAQ: baggage exemptions for tourists, two bottles of wine and 1.5 litres of spirits, no tobacco allowance, duty to declare currency, gold and gems to the Arrival No. 1 Officer); Immigrants and Emigrants Act (Cap. 351), Section 23, and the overstay fine order approved by Parliament and gazetted in June 2023 (US$250 for 7 to 14 days, US$500 above 14 days, no penalty if you leave within the first 7), confirmed via parliament.lk; exteriores.gob.es (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel advice for Sri Lanka: free ETA, passport validity and blank pages, import and export bans, yellow fever by country of origin, penalties for staying with an expired visa, security warnings); whc.unesco.org (World Heritage List) (checked 17 September 2026).
This table summarises the exact entry mechanism for every passport we track. The difference between entering visa-free, with an electronic authorisation, with an e-Visa, or with a traditional visa is explained in visa, e-Visa, and electronic authorisation: what's the difference. How we verify every row before publishing it is on methodology.
Base entry rules refreshed 2 November 2026. Published: 18 September 2026.
| Passport | Requirement | Max. stay |
|---|---|---|
| Visa-free | ||
| Afghanistan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Albania | Visa on arrival | — |
| Algeria | Visa on arrival | — |
| Andorra | Visa on arrival | — |
| Angola | Visa on arrival | — |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Visa on arrival | — |
| Argentina | Visa on arrival | — |
| Armenia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Australia | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Austria | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Azerbaijan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Bahamas | Visa on arrival | — |
| Bahrain | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Bangladesh | Visa on arrival | — |
| Barbados | Visa on arrival | — |
| Belarus | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Belgium | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Belize | Visa on arrival | — |
| Benin | Visa on arrival | — |
| Bhutan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Bolivia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Visa on arrival | — |
| Botswana | Visa on arrival | — |
| Brazil | Visa on arrival | — |
| Brunei | Visa on arrival | — |
| Bulgaria | Visa on arrival | — |
| Burkina Faso | Visa on arrival | — |
| Burundi | Visa on arrival | — |
| Cambodia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Canada | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Cape Verde | Visa on arrival | — |
| Central African Republic | Visa on arrival | — |
| Chad | Visa on arrival | — |
| Chile | Visa on arrival | — |
| China | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Colombia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Comoros | Visa on arrival | — |
| Costa Rica | Visa on arrival | — |
| Croatia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Cuba | Visa on arrival | — |
| Cyprus | Visa on arrival | — |
| Czech Republic | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Denmark | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Djibouti | Visa on arrival | — |
| Dominica | Visa on arrival | — |
| Dominican Republic | Visa on arrival | — |
| DR Congo | Visa on arrival | — |
| Ecuador | Visa on arrival | — |
| Egypt | Visa on arrival | — |
| El Salvador | Visa on arrival | — |
| Equatorial Guinea | Visa on arrival | — |
| Eritrea | Visa on arrival | — |
| Estonia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Eswatini | Visa on arrival | — |
| Ethiopia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Fiji | Visa on arrival | — |
| Finland | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| France | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Gabon | Visa on arrival | — |
| Gambia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Georgia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Germany | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Ghana | Visa on arrival | — |
| Greece | Visa on arrival | — |
| Grenada | Visa on arrival | — |
| Guatemala | Visa on arrival | — |
| Guinea | Visa on arrival | — |
| Guinea-Bissau | Visa on arrival | — |
| Guyana | Visa on arrival | — |
| Haiti | Visa on arrival | — |
| Honduras | Visa on arrival | — |
| Hong Kong | Visa on arrival | — |
| Hungary | Visa on arrival | — |
| Iceland | Visa on arrival | — |
| India | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Indonesia | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Iran | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Iraq | Visa on arrival | — |
| Ireland | Visa on arrival | — |
| Israel | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Italy | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Jamaica | Visa on arrival | — |
| Japan | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Jordan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Kazakhstan | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Kenya | Visa on arrival | — |
| Kiribati | Visa on arrival | — |
| Kosovo | Visa on arrival | — |
| Kuwait | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Kyrgyzstan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Laos | Visa on arrival | — |
| Latvia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Lebanon | Visa on arrival | — |
| Lesotho | Visa on arrival | — |
| Liberia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Libya | Visa on arrival | — |
| Liechtenstein | Visa on arrival | — |
| Lithuania | Visa on arrival | — |
| Luxembourg | Visa on arrival | — |
| Macao | Visa on arrival | — |
| Madagascar | Visa on arrival | — |
| Malawi | Visa on arrival | — |
| Malaysia | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Maldives | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 90 days |
| Mali | Visa on arrival | — |
| Malta | Visa on arrival | — |
| Marshall Islands | Visa on arrival | — |
| Mauritania | Visa on arrival | — |
| Mauritius | Visa on arrival | — |
| Mexico | Visa on arrival | — |
| Micronesia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Moldova | Visa on arrival | — |
| Monaco | Visa on arrival | — |
| Mongolia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Montenegro | Visa on arrival | — |
| Morocco | Visa on arrival | — |
| Mozambique | Visa on arrival | — |
| Myanmar | Visa on arrival | — |
| Namibia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Nauru | Visa on arrival | — |
| Nepal | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Netherlands | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| New Zealand | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Nicaragua | Visa on arrival | — |
| Niger | Visa on arrival | — |
| North Macedonia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Norway | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Oman | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Pakistan | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Palau | Visa on arrival | — |
| Palestine | Visa on arrival | — |
| Panama | Visa on arrival | — |
| Papua New Guinea | Visa on arrival | — |
| Paraguay | Visa on arrival | — |
| Peru | Visa on arrival | — |
| Philippines | Visa on arrival | — |
| Poland | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Portugal | Visa on arrival | — |
| Qatar | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Republic of the Congo | Visa on arrival | — |
| Romania | Visa on arrival | — |
| Russia | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Rwanda | Visa on arrival | — |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Visa on arrival | — |
| Saint Lucia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Visa on arrival | — |
| Samoa | Visa on arrival | — |
| San Marino | Visa on arrival | — |
| Sao Tome and Principe | Visa on arrival | — |
| Saudi Arabia | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Senegal | Visa on arrival | — |
| Serbia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Seychelles | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | — |
| Sierra Leone | Visa on arrival | — |
| Singapore | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | — |
| Slovakia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Slovenia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Solomon Islands | Visa on arrival | — |
| Somalia | Visa on arrival | — |
| South Africa | Visa on arrival | — |
| South Korea | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| South Sudan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Spain | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Sudan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Suriname | Visa on arrival | — |
| Sweden | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Switzerland | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Taiwan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Tajikistan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Tanzania | Visa on arrival | — |
| Thailand | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Timor-Leste | Visa on arrival | — |
| Togo | Visa on arrival | — |
| Tonga | Visa on arrival | — |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Visa on arrival | — |
| Tunisia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Turkey | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Turkmenistan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Tuvalu | Visa on arrival | — |
| Uganda | Visa on arrival | — |
| Ukraine | Visa on arrival | — |
| United Arab Emirates | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| United Kingdom | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| United States | Electronic authorisation (ETA) | 30 days |
| Uruguay | Visa on arrival | — |
| Uzbekistan | Visa on arrival | — |
| Vanuatu | Visa on arrival | — |
| Vatican | Visa on arrival | — |
| Venezuela | Visa on arrival | — |
| Vietnam | Visa on arrival | — |
| Yemen | Visa on arrival | — |
| Zambia | Visa on arrival | — |
| Zimbabwe | Visa on arrival | — |
| Visa required | ||
| Cameroon | Visa required | — |
| Ivory Coast | Visa required | — |
| Nigeria | Visa required | — |
| North Korea | Entry not permitted | — |
| Syria | e-Visa | — |
Sri Lanka rules for every passport
Vaccinations, customs limits and penalties are the same for every traveller.
Vaccinations
- Yellow fever: the vaccination certificate is required from travellers arriving from affected areas.
Customs limits
- Cash
- Sri Lanka Customs requires foreign currency to be declared to the Arrival No. 1 Officer, along with gold jewellery, gems and goods covered by FRIC or a CARNET. No page on the official portal setting the exact threshold above which declaring becomes compulsory was found, so we give no figure: the duty to declare is confirmed, the amount is not.
- Alcohol
- Sri Lanka Customs allowance for tourists: two regular-size bottles of wine and one and a half litres of spirits. Separately, up to a quarter of a litre of toilet water and a small quantity of perfume and souvenirs worth no more than 250 dollars, provided they are not for commercial use.
- Tobacco
- The official list of baggage exemptions for tourists published by Sri Lanka Customs does not include any tobacco allowance: only personal effects, the wine and spirits, toilet water and souvenirs. Assume cigarettes are not covered by the allowance.
Overstay penalties
There is a seven-day grace period: anyone leaving Sri Lanka within seven days of their visa expiring pays only the applicable visa fee at the port of departure, with no penalty. Beyond that, the fine is 250 US dollars for an overstay of between 7 and 14 days, and 500 dollars for more than 14 days, always on top of the visa fees. The Immigrants and Emigrants Act also allows anyone staying beyond the period specified in their visa to be detained and removed, and Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that staying on with an expired visa can lead to prison sentences.
Grounds for refusal
- Turning up without an approved ETA: it is compulsory before arrival even for the nationalities that get it free.
- A passport with less than six months' validity or without two blank pages.
- Travelling on a passport reported lost or stolen.
- Carrying items banned on import, such as narcotics, psychotropic substances, certain medicines, pornography or religious literature intended for proselytizing.
Travel insurance
Each destination decides whether to require insurance, and some check it at the border. If yours does, make sure the policy covers the whole trip.
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Do you need a different visa for Colombo, Kandy, or Galle?
No. Sri Lanka sets the requirements, so entering through Colombo asks for the same as entering through Kandy or Galle. If you're arriving overland or through a small border post, check that separately: some countries apply their own rules to specific crossings.
What does change is where you file the application when a visa is needed, and that depends on the country you live in rather than the city you're travelling to.
What draws travellers to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka packs eight World Heritage sites into an island the size of Andalusia, and you can see nearly all of them in two weeks. The "cultural triangle" holds three: Anuradhapura, the Sinhalese capital for over a thousand years, with colossal stupas and the Bodhi tree planted in the 3rd century BC; Polonnaruwa, the capital that replaced it, with its Buddhas carved out of granite; and Sigiriya, the 200-metre rock fortress with its frescoes of celestial maidens and 5th-century water gardens, all three inscribed in 1982. Nearby, the Dambulla cave temple (1991) holds 150 images of the Buddha under painted ceilings. Kandy (1988), up in the hills, guards the Temple of the Tooth, the country's most venerated Buddhist relic, and Galle (1988) is the walled town built by the Portuguese and the Dutch on the south coast. The two natural sites explain the other half of the trip: Sinharaja Forest Reserve (1988), the island's last major stretch of primary rainforest, and the Central Highlands (2010), with their tea plantations, leopards and the cliff edge of World's End. Off the list, Yala and Udawalawe for elephants, Mirissa for blue whale watching, and the train from Kandy to Ella, one of the most photographed rail journeys anywhere.
Sources for this section: whc.unesco.org (World Heritage List: 8 sites in Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura 1982, Polonnaruwa 1982, Sigiriya 1982, Galle 1988, Kandy 1988, Sinharaja 1988, Dambulla 1991, Central Highlands 2010). Accessed 17 September 2026.
Things to see and do in Sri Lanka
Tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips, most with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
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Where can Sri Lanka passport holders travel visa-free? →
Informational only. Always verify requirements with the official embassy or consulate before you travel.