Brazilian passport holders need an approved ETA before boarding for Colombo. It gives 30 days and two entries — enough for a surf season stop, a yoga retreat or a Sri Lanka and Maldives pairing via Dubai or Doha.
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
Sri Lanka sits a long way from Brazil — two long flights and eight and a half hours of clock difference — yet it has become a regular stop for Brazilians who travel Asia slowly. Surfers come for Weligama and Arugam Bay, couples pair it with the Maldives, and yoga and Ayurveda retreats on the south coast draw a steady stream from São Paulo and Rio.
Whatever brings you, a Brazilian passport does not get you in on its own. Sri Lanka asks every foreign visitor to hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation, or ETA, approved before the flight. Brazilians often search for it as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and for a holiday the tourist ETA is the document they mean.
This page is written for travellers leaving from Brazil: how the 30-day, double-entry allowance behaves on a multi-country Asia trip, how to enter a long Brazilian name, and which Gulf connections from Guarulhos and Galeão make sense.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Brazilian citizens need an ETA for any short visit to Sri Lanka, and it should be in place before you check in at Guarulhos. Brazil is not among the forty countries whose nationals have had the government charge on a tourist ETA waived since 25 May 2026, so the standard government rate applies to a Brazilian passport.
The tourist ETA fits most Brazilian itineraries: beach and surf holidays, visiting friends, a yoga or Ayurveda programme, a surf competition or a cultural performance. If you are flying out for meetings, a conference or a short training course, pick the business option instead — a tourist authorisation does not stretch to work of any kind, paid or unpaid.
Many Brazilians also carry an Italian, German, Spanish or Portuguese passport through a grandparent. Italy, Germany and Spain are on the waiver list while Portugal and Brazil are not, so which document you travel on changes the government charge. Apply with the passport you will actually hand over in Colombo, because the authorisation is tied to that number alone.
Families should note that children under 12 are not charged the government fee for a tourist ETA of up to 30 days, although each child still has to be included in an application.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA gives a Brazilian visitor 30 days in Sri Lanka with two entries. The clock starts on your first arrival, and both entries must fall inside those 30 days — so if you hop to Malé for a week mid-trip, you return to whatever balance is left, not to a new month.
The approval itself can be used to travel for six months from the date it is issued, which suits Brazilians who book Asia trips far ahead for the July or year-end holidays.
Your passport needs at least six months of validity left on the day you land. Adult Brazilian passports now run for ten years, but children's are issued for much shorter terms linked to age, so check each family member's expiry separately. Staying longer than the period granted means requesting an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, outside Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for Brazilian 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 Brazil
Requirements
Everything Brazilian 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 applications made from Brazil are approved within a day or two. Nothing is guaranteed, though, and a query on a name or a blurred passport image can add time, so treat three to five days before departure as the minimum margin and not the plan.
The time difference works against last-minute applicants. Colombo is eight and a half hours ahead of Brasília time, so the Sri Lankan working day is largely over before a Brazilian morning begins, and a question raised overnight may sit until you wake up.
Apply earlier still if you are travelling in late December, during Carnival or in the July school break, when Brazilian demand for long-haul seats peaks and rebooking a missed Gulf connection is costly.
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
There are no nonstop flights between Brazil and Sri Lanka. Nearly every itinerary is one stop through the Gulf or Istanbul from São Paulo Guarulhos, with Rio de Janeiro Galeão as the alternative gateway; travellers from Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Recife or Porto Alegre add a domestic leg first.
Best time to go
Brazil's long summer break, from mid-December to the end of January, lines up with the best weather on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and in the hill country. That is the season for Galle Fort, the beaches from Hikkaduwa to Mirissa, whale watching and the train ride through the tea estates around Ella.
The July school holiday points the other way. From May to September the south-west monsoon brings rain to Colombo and the southern beaches, while the east coast is dry — and Arugam Bay has its best surf. Brazilian surfers used to Itacaré or Florianópolis will find July the natural month for the east.
Carnival week in February or early March falls inside the dry season on the south coast and is a good window for a shorter trip. Watch for Poya, the monthly full-moon public holiday, when alcohol is not sold anywhere on the island — a surprise if you arrive expecting a beach bar.
Sri Lanka is tropical all year, so a Brazilian will find the heat and humidity familiar; the cool evenings of Nuwara Eliya are the exception and need a jumper. Eastbound jet lag is the harder adjustment, so leave the first day in Negombo or Colombo unplanned.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Brazil — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
These suffixes are part of the surname on a Brazilian passport, and so are particles such as da, de and dos. Type the name as the machine-readable lines show it — FERREIRA DA SILVA JUNIOR, without the accent — and never the shortened version you use on social media or a bank card.
A favourite Brazilian itinerary is Sri Lanka, a week in the Maldives, then back to Colombo to fly home. The second entry is allowed, but only for what remains of the original 30 days. Count the days of the whole loop, not only the nights on the island.
Brazilians with a European passport sometimes fill in the form with the Brazilian number out of habit and then present the Italian document at check-in, or the reverse. The ETA follows the number entered. An error found after payment means a new application and a second government charge.
Payments fail more often because of a locked card than because of any fault in the application. Enable international purchases in your banking app before you start, and expect the charge to appear on your statement converted to reais with IOF added by your bank.
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 an embassy in Brasília, but Brazilian tourists have no need to contact it for an ETA. The whole application is completed online from anywhere in Brazil, with no appointment and no passport to post. The embassy remains the contact point for matters the online ETA does not cover.
FAQs
The questions Brazilian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes — Brazilian citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), the online permit most people call the Sri Lanka visa, before they travel. On a holiday trip from Brazil it allows 30 days and two entries. The standard government rate applies to Brazilian passports; see the live prices shown on this page.
No. The waiver in force since 25 May 2026 covers nationals of forty countries, and Brazil is not one of them. Children under 12 are the exception for every nationality: no government fee is charged for their tourist ETA of up to 30 days.
Use whichever one you will travel on for the entire trip, and enter that passport's number. Italian nationals fall under the government-charge waiver and Brazilian nationals do not, so the choice affects the cost — but the authorisation cannot be moved between the two afterwards.
Thirty days, counted from the first arrival, with a second entry permitted inside the same period. Anyone wanting longer has to apply for an extension at the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla before the date stamped in the passport.
With one connection in most cases. Emirates via Dubai, Qatar Airways via Doha and Turkish Airlines via Istanbul all link São Paulo with Colombo, and Emirates also serves Rio. Expect roughly a full day of travel.
Yes. Holidays, sporting events and competitions, and wellness stays including Ayurveda and yoga are tourist purposes. Teaching surf or yoga lessons, even informally in exchange for a bed, counts as work and is not permitted on it.
At least three to five days before departure, and earlier around Christmas, Carnival and July. Most approvals come through in a day or two, but nobody can promise a time, and the eight-and-a-half-hour gap to Colombo slows any exchange of emails.
No. It authorises you to board and present yourself at the border; the immigration officer at Bandaranaike decides on admission and may ask for your return ticket and proof of funds. Keep both, with the approval email, in your hand luggage.
Your nationality is already set to Brazil. 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.
