Bulgarian passport holders require an ETA before travelling to Sri Lanka, charged at the standard government rate. It grants 30 days with double entry, and names must be entered in the Latin spelling printed in the passport, not in Cyrillic.
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
For Bulgarians, Sri Lanka is still a destination for the curious. It attracts divers and surfers who have already done the Red Sea, yoga practitioners from Sofia's large wellness scene, and people who work the Black Sea summer season in Varna or Burgas and want real warmth once the resorts close.
Entry is controlled through an Electronic Travel Authorisation, which Bulgarian travellers generally call a виза and English-language sites a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa. It must be approved before you set off, and it exists only as an electronic entry tied to the number of your international passport.
The main issue peculiar to Bulgaria is script. Your documents show your name twice, in Cyrillic and in Latin transliteration, and the application accepts only the second. This guide also covers passport terms, costs, routes from Sofia and the coast, and seasonal planning.
At a glance
Eligibility
Bulgarian nationals must hold an ETA for any short visit to Sri Lanka. The лична карта works for trips to Greece or Germany, yet for Colombo you need the passport itself, and it is the passport's number that the authorisation is attached to.
As for cost, Bulgaria sits outside the 40-country waiver of the government charge that Sri Lanka brought in during May 2026. The standard government rate is therefore due on a Bulgarian application, and you can see what that means today in the live prices shown on this page.
A tourist ETA is right for leisure travel, family visits, health and Ayurveda programmes and participation in sports events. Bulgarians going to an IT conference, a trade meeting or a short company training course should apply under the business option.
Many Bulgarians work in other EU states or hold a second citizenship. Neither changes the requirement. Complete the form using the Bulgarian passport if that is the one you will travel on, and do not switch documents between applying and flying.
Stay & validity
Once issued, an ETA can be used for travel during the following six months. This allows plenty of flexibility for Bulgarians who reserve winter flights early, though it is wise to confirm your passport will not need renewing during that time.
Sri Lanka grants 30 days from the date of first entry. You may enter twice, for example returning after a short visit to India, but the second stay is limited to what is left of the original 30 days.
People with a long gap between summer seasons sometimes hope to remain for several months. That is not possible on the ETA alone and requires an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla. Taking paid or unpaid work during the stay is prohibited, which rules out the bar, hotel and dive-centre jobs that seasonal staff from the Bulgarian coast might otherwise be tempted to pick up.
Pricing
Live fees for Bulgarian 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 Bulgaria
Requirements
Everything Bulgarian 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 Bulgarian applications are decided in a day or two. Because that cannot be guaranteed, treat three to five days before your Sofia departure as the latest point to submit, and remember that Colombo is several hours ahead, so an evening application reaches the authorities overnight.
Demand rises over Christmas and New Year, during the winter school break and around the spring run of holidays from Orthodox Easter to 6 May and 24 May. For those dates, a lead time of ten days or more is prudent.
Take a moment before paying to compare every letter of your name with the passport. A transliteration slip cannot be edited once the application is paid, and the only cure is a new application with a new charge.
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
Bulgaria has no nonstop service to Sri Lanka, so the trip involves one change of aircraft. Sofia is connected to Doha, Dubai and Istanbul, and the short flight or drive to Istanbul gives travellers from Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas an easy way onto Turkish Airlines' Colombo service.
Best time to go
The best months for a first visit run from December to March. That is when the south-west beaches, the hill stations and the ancient cities of the Cultural Triangle are all accessible in good weather, and when Sofia is deep in winter smog and snow. Skiers who cannot bear to miss Bansko or Borovets in January often choose late February or March instead, which is still comfortably inside the dry season.
Workers from the Black Sea resorts usually have their freedom from October onwards. October and November bring inter-monsoon showers to much of Sri Lanka, so if you can wait until December the difference in sunshine is considerable.
Bulgaria's spring holidays arrive as the south-west monsoon is building. Early May can still be pleasant, and the Vesak full-moon celebrations are memorable. From then until September, the east coast around Trincomalee and Arugam Bay takes over as the place to be.
Sri Lanka is three and a half hours ahead of Bulgaria in winter and two and a half in summer. Also plan around Poya, the monthly full-moon holiday, when banks and many shops close and alcohol is not served.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Bulgaria — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
The form works in Latin script only. Bulgarians who convert their own name sometimes produce Yordanov where the passport says Iordanov, or Tsvetkov where it says Cvetkov. Copy the printed Latin version.
Bulgarian names have three parts, but how they are laid out in the passport's Latin fields varies. Follow the document exactly and do not insert a father's name that is not shown in that field.
With a shorter passport term, six months of required validity is a large slice of the document's life. Check the date before paying for flights or the ETA.
Regular flyers within Europe rarely take their passport out of the drawer. For Sri Lanka the лична карта is not sufficient, and the ETA cannot be matched to it.
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 resident embassy in Sofia, and Bulgaria is covered on a non-resident basis from Warsaw. A tourist ETA does not involve that mission at any stage, since the whole procedure is carried out online.
FAQs
The questions Bulgarian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Bulgarians need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, often called a Sri Lanka visa, arranged before travel. The tourist ETA covers 30 days and two entries.
No. Bulgaria is not on the list of 40 countries, so the standard government rate is charged. Refer to the live prices shown on this page for the amount currently payable.
Latin letters only. Use the transliteration printed in your passport, character for character, because this is what the airline and immigration systems read.
No. You need an international passport valid for six months from arrival. The ID card is accepted for travel within the EU but not for Sri Lanka.
With one stop. The common routes from Sofia connect in Doha, Dubai or Istanbul, and total travel time is generally ten to thirteen hours.
Thirty days from first arrival on a tourist ETA. An extension must be obtained from the Department of Immigration and Emigration for a longer stay.
Use the spelling in the passport you will travel with. The ETA is linked to that document's number and should mirror its Latin name line.
Apply at least three to five days before departure, and ten days ahead for Christmas and New Year travel. The approval remains valid for travel for six months from issue.
Your nationality is already set to Bulgaria. 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.
