Belizeans need an ETA approved before they fly to Sri Lanka. The application is completed in English, the approval gives 30 days with two entries, and Belizean passports are charged the standard government rate.
30 days
Stay on a tourist ETA
Double
Entries permitted
6 months
Passport validity needed
3 options
Tourist, Business, Transit
100% online
No embassy visit
Overview
Belize and Sri Lanka share more than their distance on the map suggests. Both are Commonwealth countries where English is widely used, both were shaped by plantation trade, and both still play cricket, in the villages of the Belize River valley as keenly as on any green in Galle. For a Belizean, the island adds what home does not have: Buddhist temples two thousand years old, elephants and leopards, and mountains terraced with tea.
The first formality is an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Belizeans tend to search for a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and the ETA is what those searches lead to — an online approval attached to your passport number, obtained before you leave Belize.
Belizean passports are charged the standard government rate. The waiver Sri Lanka introduced on 25 May 2026 names 40 countries, and Belize is not among them. Our own service fee for assisting with the application applies as well, so use the live prices shown on this page to see the full amount.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes, without exception. Commonwealth membership brings no exemption, and Sri Lanka requires an ETA from all foreign nationals making a short visit. Belizeans used to walking into Chetumal or Melchor with little ceremony should expect a stricter process: the airline checks for the approval before you board the first flight.
The tourist ETA suits a holiday, a visit to friends or family, a wellness stay built around Ayurveda or yoga, medical treatment, or a place in a sports tournament or cultural performance. A Belizean cricket side on a friendly tour fits within sporting events. What it never covers is employment, including unpaid work, or running a business.
Pick the business option if the trip is for meetings, negotiations, a conference, a workshop or training that lasts under a month. Journalism, political activity and work with non-governmental organisations, reef and forest conservation projects included, require prior approval from the Sri Lankan government and are outside the online ETA.
Each child must be listed with their own Belizean passport details. For under-12s the government fee is not charged on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days, so only the adults and older children in a Belizean family pay the standard rate.
Stay & validity
On a tourist ETA a Belizean citizen may stay 30 days and enter twice. Those 30 days start at the first arrival and do not pause. Hop to the Maldives for five days in the middle of the trip and you return to whatever is left, since the second entry carries only the balance.
After approval you have six months in which to travel, and the terms printed on the approval notice are the ones that count. Belizeans who apply in May for a July or August holiday are well inside that period.
Your Belizean passport must be valid for six months beyond the date you arrive. If a renewal is due, do it before applying, and allow for the Immigration Department's processing time in Belmopan or Belize City. A renewed Belizean passport carries a new number, which means a new ETA. To stay past 30 days you would need an extension granted by the Department of Immigration and Emigration at Battaramulla, on the edge of Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for Belizean passport holders, shown all-in — any government charge that applies to your passport and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Belize
Requirements
Everything Belizean passport holders need before starting an application. The first five items apply to every applicant; the rest are specific to your nationality.
Passport valid for at least six months from the date you arrive in Sri Lanka — the same passport you will travel on
A clear image of the passport bio-data page, with every corner visible and no glare over the photograph
A working email address, which is where the approval is sent and which you should be able to open while travelling
A credit or debit card for online payment
Your intended arrival date and an address in Sri Lanka, such as your first hotel
Simple process
Four steps, entirely online, with one form per traveller and a full review before you pay.
Pick the Tourist, Business or Transit option that matches the real purpose of your trip, and add every traveller in your party to the same application.
Give each traveller's details exactly as printed on the passport, plus the intended arrival date and an address in Sri Lanka. Entries are made in English.
Check every name, date and passport number on the review screen before paying. Corrections are simple at this stage and difficult afterwards.
The approval is linked electronically to your passport number. Keep a copy on your phone and a printout with your travel documents for check-in and arrival.
Most Belizean applications are approved in a day or two. Some are referred for extra checks and take longer, so do not treat the usual pace as a commitment. Apply at least three to five days ahead of your first flight, and sooner if you are leaving over Easter, Christmas or the September Celebrations.
Sri Lanka runs eleven and a half hours ahead of Belize and neither country adjusts its clocks. Office hours in Colombo fall between early evening and the small hours in Belmopan, which means replies usually reach you overnight.
The form is completed in English, which removes one source of error for Belizeans, but an approved application still cannot be amended. A typing slip discovered after payment calls for a new application and a second government charge, the first being non-refundable and non-transferable.
On arrival
An approved ETA gets you on the plane. This is what happens once you land, and how to make the arrival as quick as possible.
Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake, about 30 kilometres north of Colombo, handles nearly all international arrivals. Follow the signs to immigration and join the foreign passport queue.
The officer retrieves your ETA from the passport number. Have the approval email to hand as a backup, on paper or saved offline, since airport connectivity is not guaranteed.
You may be asked where you are staying, how long for and when you leave. A hotel confirmation and your return ticket answer all three in a few seconds.
Your passport is endorsed with the date you must leave by. Read it at the counter — that date, not the length of your booking, is what counts if your plans change.
Getting there
Philip Goldson International has no long-haul flights, so every journey to Sri Lanka begins with a short hop out of Belize. The widest choice runs through the United States — Houston, Miami, Dallas or Atlanta — and then Doha or Dubai, but a Belizean passport holder needs a US visa to connect there. Travellers without one usually fly Copa to Panama City and continue with Turkish Airlines through Istanbul, or travel up to Cancún and pick up Turkish Airlines from there.
Best time to go
Belize's dry season, from about December to May, coincides with the best months on Sri Lanka's south and west coasts. Christmas and the weeks after it bring settled weather to Galle Fort, Unawatuna and Mirissa, with blue whales offshore until April.
Easter is the other long break in the Belizean calendar. Late March is still dry on the south-west side of the island; by mid-April the Sinhala and Tamil New Year takes over, a family festival during which shops and offices close and buses fill up.
July and August, when Belizean schools are out, are the east coast's season. Trincomalee and Pasikudah have calm, clear water and Arugam Bay has its best surf, while Colombo and the south sit under the monsoon. It is also hurricane season at home, so insure the trip in case a storm disrupts your departure.
A Belizean used to tracking jaguars in the Cockscomb Basin will want Yala or Wilpattu, where leopards are the top predator and are seen far more readily. Around the September holidays the east coast is still dry, and October brings inter-monsoon showers across the island.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Belize — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Belizean passports print every given name, yet most people sign and book with only the first. The ETA should mirror the passport line for line. If the photo page says Shanice Marie Antoinette, all three belong on the application.
A good number of Belizeans hold a second passport, often American or British. Applying with one and checking in with the other leaves the airline unable to find the authorisation, because it is linked to one passport number only. Choose one document for the whole journey, and note that the government charge follows that passport's nationality.
The quickest fares from Belize City nearly all pass through an American hub, and the United States does not allow airside transit without a visa. An expired US visa is discovered at the check-in desk more often than it should be. Check its dates before buying, or route through Panama or Cancún.
With two entries allowed, some travellers assume a quick trip to India or the Maldives restarts the clock. It does not. Both entries share one 30-day period, and Sri Lanka does not permit living there through repeated short visits.
Passport number mistyped
The authorisation attaches to the number you enter. One wrong character produces an ETA that does not match the passport handed over at the counter, and a paid application cannot be edited afterwards.
Passport with under six months left
Sri Lanka expects six months of validity counted from the day you arrive, not the day you apply. A passport that falls short is refused at check-in regardless of the ETA.
The wrong ETA type
Attending meetings or a conference on a tourist ETA is outside its conditions. Choose the option that matches what you will actually do in the country.
Conditions
These conditions are set by Sri Lanka's Department of Immigration and Emigration and do not vary by nationality.
Sri Lanka requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation for short visits by all foreign nationals, and it should be approved before you travel. Even where the government charge is waived, the authorisation itself is still required.
The authorisation is recorded against the passport number you enter. If that passport is lost, replaced or renewed before you travel, the ETA does not move across and a new application is needed.
A tourist ETA allows two entries. The stay period runs from your first arrival, so a second entry is granted only the balance of that period rather than a fresh allowance.
A tourist ETA covers holidays, family visits, medical treatment and cultural or sporting events. Business meetings, conferences and short training need the business option, and a stopover of up to two days uses the transit option.
Immigration officers at the port of entry may ask for a confirmed return or onward ticket and evidence that you can support yourself for the length of your stay.
An approved ETA lets you travel to Sri Lanka. The decision to admit you is made by an immigration officer on arrival, and the conditions printed on your approval govern your stay.
Consular services
Sri Lanka has no mission in Belmopan or Belize City, and the nearest resident embassies are those in Havana and Washington DC. Belizean visitors do not need to approach either for a tourist ETA; the application is made online and the result is emailed.
FAQs
The questions Belizean passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Belizeans need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to visit Sri Lanka, and it should be approved before departure. People often call it a Sri Lanka visa. It is linked to your passport number and gives 30 days as a tourist with two entries.
No. Sri Lanka requires an ETA from every foreign national, Commonwealth citizens included. Belize is also outside the 40 countries whose government charge has been waived since 25 May 2026, so the standard rate applies.
Belizean passports are charged the standard government rate, with no charge for children under 12 on a tourist ETA. We do not print amounts in this guide because they change; the live prices shown on this page give the current government charge and our service fee.
There are no direct flights. Most Belizeans connect through a US hub and then Doha or Dubai, which requires a US visa, or fly via Panama City and Istanbul. Another option is to travel to Cancún and take Turkish Airlines from there.
Apply at least three to five days before you leave, and earlier ahead of Christmas, Easter or the summer school holidays. Approvals commonly arrive within a day or two, but that is not guaranteed.
Thirty days, counted from the first day you arrive. The ETA is double entry, and a second arrival within the period is granted only the remaining days. An extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla is needed for anything longer.
Taking part in sporting events and competitions is a permitted tourist purpose, so players on a cricket or football tour can normally use the tourist ETA. Each member needs an individual authorisation tied to their own passport. Paid coaching or any form of employment is not allowed.
The ETA does not transfer. It is tied to the passport number you applied with, so a renewed or replacement Belizean passport means making a new application and paying the government charge again.
Your nationality is already set to Belize. Complete the form in around ten minutes, review every detail, and receive your ETA by email.
Other nationalities
Charges, routes and the practical details differ by passport. Here are the guides for other nationalities.
