Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina need an ETA approved before boarding for Colombo. Apply online with your BiH passport, receive the decision by email, and travel from Sarajevo through Istanbul or Dubai for a stay of 30 days.
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
Few people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been to Sri Lanka, and those who go usually plan the trip themselves. There is no long-established package market from Sarajevo or Banja Luka, so the typical visitor is a couple on a honeymoon, a surfer heading for Arugam Bay, or someone from the diaspora in Germany, Austria or Sweden travelling on a BiH passport from a larger airport.
Whatever the starting point, the document required is the same: an Electronic Travel Authorisation. You will see it described as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa in forums and agency adverts, and the terms are used interchangeably in everyday speech. It is an online approval linked to the number of your passport, and the airline confirms it exists before issuing a boarding pass.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was not included when Sri Lanka waived its government charge for 40 nationalities in 2026. The standard rate therefore applies, and the live prices shown on this page are the ones to rely on. This guide concentrates on what is particular to BiH applicants, from the three-language passport to the best way out of Sarajevo.
At a glance
Eligibility
They do. A BiH passport opens the Schengen area and Turkey without paperwork, but Sri Lanka treats all foreign nationals alike and requires an ETA from each of them. It has to be approved ahead of the journey.
Holidays, visits to friends, wellness stays and sporting or cultural events all sit under the tourist ETA. A Bosnian engineer attending a workshop, a trader meeting suppliers or an artist performing at a festival needs the business option. Reporting, filming for broadcast, political activity and NGO work require prior government approval and cannot be arranged through the online ETA.
A very large share of BiH citizens also hold Croatian or Serbian citizenship. Neither of those passports falls inside the waiver, so there is no saving in choosing one over the other. What matters is consistency: the passport entered in the application must be the one you hand to the airline and to the immigration officer.
Children need to be listed with their own passport details. Under-12s are not charged the government fee for a tourist ETA of up to 30 days, which helps families, but leaving a child off the application is not an option.
Stay & validity
The tourist ETA gives a Bosnian visitor 30 days, starting on the day of first arrival. Two entries are allowed within those 30 days. If you leave for a few days in southern India or the Maldives and return, you are admitted for the days still unused and no more.
The approval itself is valid for travel for six months from the date of issue, subject to whatever is printed on it. That is useful for diaspora travellers who book early to secure summer leave, as the ETA can be arranged well ahead without expiring before the flight.
Sri Lanka wants six months of passport validity counted from the arrival date. Adult BiH passports generally run for ten years, so most holders are comfortably inside the rule, but check a child's passport separately because those are issued for shorter terms. If a passport is replaced after the ETA is granted, the approval does not carry over to the new number.
Thirty days is a ceiling for the trip, not something to stretch by leaving and coming straight back. Anyone who needs longer must apply to the Department of Immigration and Emigration at Battaramulla for an extension while the first period is still running.
Pricing
Live fees for Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Requirements
Everything Bosnia and Herzegovina 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.
Approvals for BiH applicants normally come through within a day or two. The process is entirely online, which is fortunate, because Sri Lanka has no embassy in Sarajevo and a paper route would mean dealing with a mission abroad. No timing can be promised, and a small number of applications take longer.
Leave three to five days between applying and flying out of Sarajevo, at the least. Self-organised travellers from Bosnia often book flights first and deal with formalities late, and that works until a typing error has to be fixed by submitting a fresh application.
Timing matters most around the Bajram holidays, the Catholic and Orthodox Christmas periods and the summer weeks when the diaspora travels, since public offices and banks at home keep different closing days in the Federation and Republika Srpska. Submit before a long weekend rather than during it, in case your bank needs to authorise the card payment.
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
Sarajevo has no service to South Asia, so the journey is built around one connection. Turkish Airlines to Istanbul is the most frequent option and links directly with its Colombo flight, while flydubai connects Sarajevo with Dubai for onward services. Travellers from Banja Luka usually fly to Belgrade and continue from there, and many in Herzegovina drive to Split or Dubrovnik instead.
Best time to go
From a Sarajevo winter of smog, snow and temperatures below zero, the Sri Lankan south coast in January is a different world. December to March is the dry season for Colombo, Galle, Mirissa and the hill country, and it is the period when a first-time visitor sees the classic circuit at its best.
School winter holidays in BiH are set separately by cantons and entities, generally falling between late December and early February. That staggered calendar is an advantage, because families from Tuzla, Mostar and Banja Luka are not all chasing the same seats, and the later weeks avoid the Christmas and New Year premium.
The long summer break lines up with the east coast instead. May to September is the season for Arugam Bay's surf, for Trincomalee and for Pasikudah's shallow lagoon, while the south-west is under monsoon rain. Bosnians working abroad who can only travel in August should base themselves in the east and visit Kandy for the Esala Perahera if dates allow.
Muslim travellers from Bosnia will find mosques and halal food readily in Colombo, Galle, Kandy and along the east coast, so a trip during or just after Ramadan is practical. Poya days, the monthly full-moon holidays, close many shops and offices.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Bosnia and Herzegovina — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Dual BiH and Croatian citizens often carry both documents and present whichever is nearer to hand. The ETA is recorded against a single passport number. Show the other booklet at check-in and the airline will find no authorisation, however valid the approval is.
The top part of the photo page prints Hadžić or Kovačević with diacritics. The form expects HADZIC and KOVACEVIC, as in the machine-readable lines beneath.
Banks in BiH frequently issue cards with internet or international transactions switched off by default. The payment then fails at the last step, sometimes repeatedly. Enable online use and check your limit before you start, not after the third declined attempt.
Driving to Zagreb, Split or Vienna for a cheaper long-haul fare is common. It adds a land border and a day to the journey, so the ETA needs to be in your inbox before you leave home, not expected to arrive while you are on the road.
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
There is no Sri Lankan embassy in Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina falls under the embassy in Vienna, which BiH tourists do not need to visit or contact for an ETA, since the whole application is handled online. It remains the point of contact for matters the online route does not cover.
FAQs
The questions Bosnia and Herzegovina passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina must have an approved Electronic Travel Authorisation before they travel, which is what most people mean by a Sri Lanka visa. It is applied for online, allows a 30-day stay with two entries, and is checked by the airline at departure.
It does not. The waiver introduced on 25 May 2026 names 40 countries, and BiH is not one of them, so the standard government rate applies. See the live prices shown on this page for the amount payable today.
Either, as long as you use it throughout. Both nationalities pay the standard rate, so choose the passport with more validity remaining, enter that one in the application and present the same document at check-in and on arrival.
With one change of plane. The usual routing is Turkish Airlines through Istanbul, and flydubai through Dubai is the main alternative. Door to door, expect 12 to 15 hours depending on the length of the connection.
Typically a day or two, although it can be quicker or slower and no time is guaranteed. Submitting at least three to five days before the flight, and earlier for travel between December and March, leaves room to correct a mistake.
Possibly, but not through the ETA itself. An extension has to be requested from the Department of Immigration and Emigration, whose head office is in Battaramulla outside Colombo, and it must be done before your permitted stay ends.
Every child must be included with their own passport details. For those under 12 the government fee is not charged on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days. Make sure each child's passport also meets the six-month validity requirement.
The rules for your passport, not your country of residence. A German residence permit does not bring you under Germany's waiver. You apply as a BiH national at the standard rate and can fly from whichever German airport suits you.
Your nationality is already set to Bosnia and Herzegovina. 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.
