Cambodian passport holders need an ETA approved before flying to Colombo, normally by way of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. It allows 30 days and two entries, and Cambodia is 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
Important for Cambodian citizens
Cambodia is outside the 40-country waiver of Sri Lanka's tourist ETA government charge. Cambodian adults pay the standard rate, shown in the live prices on this page.
Overview
Cambodia and Sri Lanka are joined by the form of Buddhism they both practise. Tradition holds that a Khmer prince named Tamalinda, said to be a son of Jayavarman VII, was ordained in Sri Lanka in the twelfth century and helped carry the Theravada school home to Angkor. Cambodian monks still study on the island, and lay pilgrims follow them.
Travel between the two countries remains modest, and there is not much guidance written with Cambodian passport holders in mind. The essential point is simple. You need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, often referred to as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and it must be approved before you leave Phnom Penh or Siem Reap.
Cambodia is not one of the countries whose government charge was waived in 2026, so the standard rate applies. What follows sets out who needs the authorisation, how Khmer names should be entered, the practical route to Colombo and the months that suit a visit.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Cambodian citizens of every age require an ETA for a short visit, and there is no arrangement between the two governments that removes it for ordinary passports. The airline operating your final leg into Colombo will check for the approval before you board in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.
Pilgrimage and sightseeing are tourist purposes. A group from a pagoda in Battambang visiting Kandy, Anuradhapura and Kelaniya applies for tourist ETAs, as do families on holiday and Cambodians visiting friends who work in Colombo. Ayurveda treatment and yoga programmes are covered as well.
Other purposes are not. A monk enrolling for a full course at a Sri Lankan university or monastic college is going to live and study there, which the tourist ETA is not designed for, and the host institution should advise on the correct permission. Delegates to a religious symposium or conference apply under the business option.
Cambodia's garment, rice and tourism sectors send a small but steady number of people to Colombo for meetings. They too should choose the business option. Children accompany parents on the same application, and Sri Lanka leaves its government fee uncharged for any tourist younger than 12.
Stay & validity
A Cambodian tourist is granted 30 days, measured from first arrival, with permission to enter twice. A classic pilgrimage circuit takes about a week and a relaxed island tour about two, so most visitors use well under the full period.
The second entry is useful to Cambodians who continue to Bodh Gaya and the other Buddhist sites of India before flying home through Colombo. On return you are given only the days that remain from your first arrival. If your plans grow, the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla considers extension requests.
From the date of issue you have six months in which to travel. The passport you applied with must be the one you carry, and it needs six months of validity left when you land. A damaged or water-stained booklet replaced after approval has a different number, which makes the earlier ETA unusable.
Pricing
Live fees for Cambodian 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 Cambodia
Requirements
Everything Cambodian 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 Cambodian applicants generally arrive within a day or two. There is no fixed service time, so the safe course is to apply at least three to five days before departure, and a fortnight ahead when a pagoda committee is organising a large group.
Allow longer around Khmer New Year in mid-April and Pchum Ben in September or October. Banks and offices in Cambodia close for several days, which can delay a card payment or a replacement passport, and flights through Bangkok are heavily booked.
Phnom Penh is ninety minutes ahead of Colombo. Internet access in rural provinces is less dependable than in the capital, so download the approval while you have a good signal and print a copy. Elderly pilgrims who do not use email can have the document sent to a relative, as long as they carry the printout.
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
Cambodia has no nonstop flight to Sri Lanka. Travellers from Phnom Penh and Siem Reap first take a short regional flight to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore and continue from there to Colombo. Bangkok is usually the quickest, being about an hour from Phnom Penh.
Best time to go
Cambodia's cool, dry months from December to February are also the finest on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and in the highlands. The long weekend around Victory Day on 7 January is a convenient time for a short pilgrimage combined with a few days by the sea at Bentota or Hikkaduwa.
Khmer New Year and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year are celebrated in the very same days of mid-April, both rooted in the same solar calendar. Cambodians who travel then will recognise the mood, though they should expect closed shops and crowded trains, and afternoons as hot as Phnom Penh's.
Visak Bochea in May is Vesak in Sri Lanka, marked with lanterns, illuminated story panels and stalls handing out free food and drink. Rain is returning to the south-west by then. Between June and September the dry weather shifts to the east coast, and Kandy holds the Esala Perahera in July or August.
Pchum Ben falls in the inter-monsoon period, when showers are possible anywhere on the island but the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa are uncrowded. The Water Festival holiday in November is similar. Full-moon Poya days close offices and stop the sale of alcohol, as observant Cambodian Buddhists would expect.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Cambodia — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Khmer has no single standard romanisation, so the same name may be written Sokha or Sokhar, Chea or Chear. Bank cards, school certificates and Facebook profiles often disagree with the passport. Only the passport spelling should be entered.
Some older Cambodians hold documents on which the recorded birth date was reconstructed years later and differs from the day the family observes. The application must repeat the passport, whatever the true date may be.
Daily life in Cambodia runs largely on banknotes and local QR codes. An online ETA application needs a card that works for international internet payments. Arrange one, or ask a relative who has one, before the week of travel.
Monks and students going to Sri Lanka for a course lasting months sometimes apply as tourists because it is the easiest form to find. A tourist ETA does not allow living in the country through repeated visits. Ask the receiving institution which permission applies.
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 does not have a resident embassy in Phnom Penh; Cambodia is covered by the Sri Lankan embassy in Bangkok. That distance does not matter for an ETA, because Cambodian applicants complete the process online and are never asked to present themselves or their passports at a mission.
FAQs
The questions Cambodian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Cambodians need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online approval usually meant by the phrase Sri Lanka visa, before they travel. It permits a tourist stay of 30 days with two entries. The standard government rate applies to Cambodian passports.
There is no resident Sri Lankan embassy in Cambodia; the country is served from Bangkok. You do not need an embassy for an ETA in any case. The application is made online and the approval is sent by email.
With one change of aircraft. The common routings are Phnom Penh to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, then onward to Colombo, for a total of six to eight hours. Travellers from Siem Reap follow the same pattern.
For a pilgrimage or a short visit to temples, yes. For a formal religious event or symposium the business option is the right one, and for a long course of study the monk should seek advice from the Sri Lankan institution. Each monk applies with his own passport.
Thirty days starting on the day of first entry. The ETA may be used for a second entry during those 30 days, for instance after visiting India, without adding any time. Extensions are decided by the immigration authorities in Sri Lanka.
No. Cambodia is not among the 40 countries named in the waiver that took effect on 25 May 2026. The government fee is, however, not charged for children under 12. The live prices shown on this page reflect what a Cambodian applicant pays.
Any credit or debit card that your bank has enabled for international online payments. If you are unsure, ask the bank before you apply. A family member's card can be a practical solution for travellers who do not hold one.
Always the passport. Sri Lankan immigration compares the ETA with the passport you present and with nothing else. Copy the surname and given name letter by letter from the photo page, in the order the passport gives them.
Your nationality is already set to Cambodia. 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.
