British travellers need an approved ETA before flying to Colombo, whether for winter sun, a tour of the tea country or a family visit. It allows 30 days and two entries, and Sri Lanka waives its government charge for UK passports.
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
Important for British citizens
The United Kingdom is among the 40 countries whose tourist ETA has carried no Sri Lankan government charge since 25 May 2026. British travellers must still obtain the ETA before departure.
Overview
Britain has been one of Sri Lanka's steadiest sources of visitors for decades, and the reasons have hardly changed. It is a long-haul destination that works in a fortnight: ruined cities and cave temples in the north, a train through the tea estates, leopards in Yala and a week on a beach to finish. Add a large British Sri Lankan community travelling to see family, and England cricket supporters filling the ramparts above the ground at Galle, and the London to Colombo route stays busy all year.
What British travellers need to arrange in advance is an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Sri Lanka asks every foreign national for one, and it should be approved before you leave the UK. Tour operators and guidebooks often call it the Sri Lanka visa or tourist e-visa; the terms are used interchangeably for a short holiday. Since 25 May 2026 the United Kingdom has been on the list of countries for which Sri Lanka waives its own charge on the tourist ETA.
The sections below deal with the questions that come up most for travellers from the UK: how the 30 days and two entries work on a Sri Lanka and Maldives twin-centre, why the six-month passport rule here is not the one you know from Europe, which flights go nonstop, and how British school holidays match the island's two coasts.
At a glance
Eligibility
British citizens do need an ETA, and there is no exception for short stays or for package holidays. People sometimes assume a Commonwealth passport or an ATOL-protected booking takes care of entry formalities. Neither does. Your tour operator may remind you, but the authorisation is your responsibility and is checked against your passport at Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester before you are given a boarding pass.
For the trips British visitors typically take, the tourist ETA is the right choice. It covers holidays and touring, staying with friends and relatives, Ayurveda retreats and yoga courses, and attending or taking part in sporting events, which includes following a Test series or joining a club cricket tour. Volunteering placements and gap-year work are a different matter: employment, paid or unpaid, is outside what a tourist ETA allows.
If the purpose is a meeting, a conference, a trade visit or a short training course, choose the business option. British journalists, documentary crews and charity workers should note that media assignments and NGO work need prior approval from the Sri Lankan authorities and cannot be arranged through the online ETA at all.
People born in Sri Lanka who are now solely British citizens are foreign nationals for this purpose and apply like any other UK passport holder, as do their British-born children. The form asks for nationality as shown on the passport you will travel on. The same goes for the rarer British passport types, such as British National (Overseas): pick the option that matches the document and check the price displayed for it, since the waiver is defined by nationality.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA grants British visitors 30 days from the date they first arrive, and permits two entries during that time. The second entry is the feature that makes a twin-centre trip work: fly into Colombo, tour for ten days, spend five nights in the Maldives and come back for the flight home. Only the unused part of the 30 days is given on return, so plan the whole itinerary inside one month.
The approval can be used for travel for six months after it is issued. British holidaymakers tend to book winter trips in the summer, and there is no harm in applying once flights are paid for, provided the passport is not going to be renewed in between. The conditions set out on the approval itself are what immigration officers apply.
Passport validity catches British travellers for a particular reason. After years of the European rule about issue dates, many people now check when their passport was issued and overlook the simpler test Sri Lanka uses: six months remaining on the day you land. A burgundy passport with five months left is fine for a weekend in Spain and will not get you on a flight to Colombo. Children's passports last only five years, so check theirs first.
For anyone wanting more than a month, such as retirees escaping a British winter or relatives staying on after a wedding, the route is an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, on the edge of Colombo. It has to be applied for while the first 30 days are still running. Repeated back-to-back visits to stay most of the year are not what the tourist ETA is designed for.
Pricing
Live fees for British 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 United Kingdom
Requirements
Everything British 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 British applicants hear back within a day or two. That is typical, not guaranteed, and applications submitted over a UK bank holiday weekend are no quicker than any other. Apply at least three to five days before you fly, and treat that as the minimum if your departure is in the Christmas fortnight or February half-term, when demand from the UK peaks.
A sensible habit is to apply as soon as your flights are booked. The approval stays usable for six months, so a family that books in September for Christmas loses nothing by dealing with it straight away. The one reason to wait is a passport renewal: if any passport in the group will be replaced before travel, apply after the new one arrives from HM Passport Office.
Leave extra room when you are travelling as a group. Cricket tours, wedding parties heading to the south coast and three-generation family visits involve many passports, and the single mistake that sinks one application is usually a mistyped number. Have each adult check their own details on the review screen, since a paid application cannot be corrected afterwards.
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
The UK is one of the few European countries with nonstop flights to Sri Lanka. SriLankan Airlines flies from London Heathrow to Colombo, and British Airways has scheduled a winter-season service from Gatwick starting in late October 2026. Travellers from Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh generally find it easier to connect in the Gulf than to travel to London first, with Dubai and Doha offering the most frequent onward flights.
Best time to go
Sri Lanka runs five and a half hours ahead of the UK in winter and four and a half during British Summer Time, because it does not change its clocks. The overnight flight from London lands around the middle of the following day, and most people adjust within a couple of nights. The half-hour offset trips up phone calendars and airport transfer bookings more often than it should, so confirm pick-up times in local time.
The British winter is the island's best season on the coasts most first-time visitors choose. From December to March the west and south, from Negombo down to Galle, Mirissa and Tangalle, are dry and calm, and the hill country is clear. Christmas, New Year and February half-term all fall inside that window. They are also the dearest weeks of the year, and popular hotels in Galle Fort sell out months ahead.
Easter needs a little care. The weather is still good in the south-west, but when the school break overlaps with Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April, many family-run restaurants and shops close and trains are packed with Sri Lankans travelling home. The May half-term coincides with the start of the south-west monsoon and often with Vesak, when towns are hung with lanterns.
Families tied to the summer holidays should look east. July and August are the dry months at Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Pasikudah, the surf is at its best in Arugam Bay, and the Kandy Esala Perahera usually takes place then. October half-term sits in the inter-monsoon period, with warm days and afternoon downpours. Whenever you go, check for Poya days, the monthly full-moon holidays when bars and hotel minibars stop serving alcohol.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from United Kingdom — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
British travellers have learned to look at the issue date for trips to the Schengen area. Sri Lanka's test is different and stricter on the other end: six months of validity remaining when you arrive. A passport that is perfectly acceptable in Europe can be turned away at the Colombo check-in desk.
Package holidays from the UK include flights, transfers and hotels, and many customers assume entry paperwork is part of the bundle. It usually is not. Unless your booking confirmation states that an ETA has been obtained for each named passenger, arrange it yourself.
Fast-track renewals before a big trip are common in Britain, and a renewed passport comes with a new number. Because the authorisation is attached to the old number, it does not carry over. Renew first and apply second, or you will need to apply again.
The double entry is generous but not open-ended. If you arrive in Colombo on the first of the month, leave for Malé and return on the twenty-fifth, you have only the last few days of the 30 left. Itineraries that stretch beyond a month in total need an extension arranged in Sri Lanka.
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's High Commission is in London, near Hyde Park. British tourists applying for an ETA have no reason to visit or post anything to it, because the whole process is online. The High Commission remains the contact for residence, employment and media visas, and for consular services used by Sri Lankan nationals living in Britain.
FAQs
The questions British passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
British citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for Sri Lanka, which is the entry permission most travellers refer to as the Sri Lanka visa. It must be approved before you travel, allows a 30-day stay with two entries, and is applied for online with your passport details.
Sri Lanka has waived its government charge on the tourist ETA for British passports since 25 May 2026. You still have to apply, and our service fee for handling the application applies. The live prices shown on this page give the amount for your trip.
Thirty days, starting from your first arrival. You may enter twice within that period, but the second entry does not restart the clock. To stay longer you apply for an extension at the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla before the 30 days end.
At least six months from the day you arrive. The date of issue does not matter, which is a different test from the one used for travel to the EU. If your passport is close to the limit, renew it before you apply, because the ETA is linked to the passport number.
Yes. The tourist ETA allows two entries, so the popular Colombo, Malé and back to Colombo routing from the UK is covered. Both arrivals must fall within 30 days of the first one, and on your return you are admitted for the remaining days only.
If you are travelling as a British citizen on a UK passport, yes. Sri Lanka requires an ETA from every foreign national, whatever their place of birth. Enter your nationality as British, give your birthplace as it appears in the passport, and apply in the same way as any other UK traveller.
Yes, and the tourist ETA is the correct type. Watching matches in Galle, Colombo or Kandy counts as a holiday. Thirty days comfortably covers a Test series, but supporters staying for a full multi-format tour should count their days carefully.
At least three to five days before departure, and earlier for travel at Christmas, February half-term or Easter. Many British travellers apply as soon as flights are booked, since an approved ETA can be used for travel for six months from the date of issue.
Your nationality is already set to United Kingdom. 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.
