Sri Lanka: passport and entry requirements
Sri Lanka needs an online travel authorisation before you fly, one for every traveller including the children, and six months left on each passport. It's free to apply for at the moment.
On this page
Your passport
Each passport needs to be valid for at least six months after the day you arrive, counted from the arrival date rather than your flight home. A passport that runs out soon after you're due back can still be too short on the way in.
Check every passport when you book. A child's needs renewing more often than an adult's, so it's the one most likely to be near expiry, and a new one takes several weeks to come through.
Getting in
Sri Lanka asks every visitor to get an ETA, an Electronic Travel Authorisation, before travelling. It isn't a visa but an online approval you apply for in advance, through the official government portal rather than the paid third parties that appear alongside it. The tourist ETA is free at the moment.
The approval covers a 30-day stay with two entries, and you can extend it online once you're there. It's one application per traveller, so everyone in the family needs their own, the children as well.
Every child needs their own passport, down to the youngest, valid as long as the adults'. Each one also needs their own ETA, applied for separately from the child's passport details.
Official sources
Last checked 11 August 2026. Passport and entry rules change, so always confirm on GOV.UK before you book or travel.
