Cuban passport holders, whether resident in Havana, Madrid or Miami, must have an ETA approved before travelling to Sri Lanka. The tourist version allows 30 days and two entries and is applied for entirely online.
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
Cuba and Sri Lanka are both islands that outsiders tend to reduce to beaches, old cars or tea, and both reward visitors who look further. The two countries have had diplomatic relations for decades and Sri Lanka keeps an embassy in Havana, yet travel between them remains rare and takes planning.
The first step for anyone on a Cuban passport is an Electronic Travel Authorisation. In Spanish it is normally searched for as a visa or e-visa para Sri Lanka, and the ETA is the document meant. You request it online in English, and the result is held against your passport number instead of being issued as a paper visa.
Cuban nationals are charged the standard government rate, as Cuba does not appear among the forty countries granted a waiver, and our service fee applies as well. The amounts are shown in the live prices on this page. Payment and internet access are the two practical hurdles for applicants on the island, and this guide returns to both.
At a glance
Eligibility
Every Cuban visitor needs an ETA, and it should be approved before leaving José Martí airport or wherever the journey begins. The warm relations between Havana and Colombo do not translate into an exemption for ordinary passport holders making a private trip.
A tourist ETA is the right choice for sightseeing, a beach or wildlife holiday, visiting friends or relatives, medical treatment or an Ayurveda programme, and taking part in a sporting event or cultural performance. Cuban athletes and musicians travelling to compete or perform should check that the trip fits those terms.
Cuban doctors, academics and trade representatives going to Sri Lanka for meetings, conferences, seminars or short courses of under a month require the business option. Reporting, political activity and NGO work need the Sri Lankan government's approval in advance and sit outside the online ETA altogether.
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans now also carry a Spanish passport through descent, and many in Florida hold an American one. Both Spain and the United States are on the waiver list for the government charge. An application made on the Cuban passport stays at the standard rate, and the ETA is valid only with the booklet whose number you entered.
Stay & validity
The tourist ETA entitles a Cuban traveller to 30 days in Sri Lanka from the date of first entry. It is a double-entry authorisation, yet the second entry gives no extra time: you come back to whatever portion of the 30 days has not been used.
An approved ETA may be used for six months after issue. Because seats from Havana are limited and transit visas for the connection can take weeks, Cubans often need that breathing space between approval and departure.
Passport validity of six months from arrival is a firm condition. Older Cuban passports had to be kept alive with periodic extensions, while newer ones run for a longer single term, so look at the dates printed in yours and not at what a relative's booklet allowed. To stay past the period granted, apply to the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla for an extension.
Pricing
Live fees for Cuban 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 Cuba
Requirements
Everything Cuban 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.
Decisions on Cuban applications usually come in a day or two. No timing can be guaranteed, and a case sometimes waits longer if the passport image is hard to read or the details need a manual look.
Our advice is to apply at least three to five days before travel. Cubans leaving in the July and August school holidays or around the year-end festivities should move earlier, and in any case the ETA is rarely the slowest document: a transit visa for Europe will take longer, so start both together.
Sri Lanka is ten and a half hours ahead of Havana in winter and nine and a half when Cuba moves to summer time. Either way the island's working day is over before Cuba's begins, so an application sent in the morning tends to be answered overnight.
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
Travellers from Cuba reach Sri Lanka through Europe or Türkiye. Istanbul gives the most direct pattern, as Turkish Airlines serves both Havana and Colombo. Madrid and Paris are the other gateways, each needing a further change in the Gulf. Schedules from Havana change often, so confirm flights and the transit rules for Cuban passports before buying.
Best time to go
Cubans know tropical seasons well: a dry, mild winter and a hot, wet summer with the risk of hurricanes. Sri Lanka's pattern is more complicated, because two monsoons strike different coasts at different times, and choosing the right side of the island matters more than choosing the month.
From December to March, the season when Cuba itself fills with foreign tourists, Sri Lanka's south and west are dry. This is the time for Galle Fort, the beaches at Unawatuna and Tangalle, whale watching from Mirissa and the cool tea hills around Nuwara Eliya.
The Cuban school holidays in July and August coincide with rain on the south-west coast and sunshine in the east. Trincomalee, Pasikudah and Arugam Bay are the places to go, and the Kandy Esala Perahera, a procession of drummers, dancers and elephants, takes place in July or August.
Sri Lanka has no hurricane season of the Caribbean kind, though October and November bring showers between the monsoons. Poya, the monthly full-moon holiday, closes bars and stops alcohol sales for the day. Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April empties the cities as families go home to their villages.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Cuba — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Many Cubans on the island do not hold a card that works for purchases abroad and rely on relatives in Spain, Mexico or the United States. Arrange that help in advance, and make sure the person paying enters your passport details, not their own.
Names beginning with Y or ending in -leidys or -ys are a Cuban speciality and easy to mistype, especially when someone else fills in the form for you. One wrong letter creates a mismatch with the passport, and a paid application cannot be corrected.
Cubans who have recently acquired Spanish nationality sometimes use the older document out of habit. The ETA belongs to the passport number on the form. If you intend to fly on the Spanish passport, apply with it from the outset.
A Cuban passport often needs an airport transit visa for a change of planes in Madrid or Paris. Without it the airline in Havana will refuse boarding, however valid your Sri Lankan authorisation may be. Check the requirement for every stop on the ticket.
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
Cuba is one of the few countries in the region with a resident Sri Lankan embassy, located in Havana. It deals with consular matters and with visits that fall outside the ETA, such as those needing prior government approval. Cuban tourists do not have to go there, since the ETA is applied for and delivered electronically.
FAQs
The questions Cuban passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Cuban citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, commonly called a Sri Lanka visa, and must have it approved before they travel. A tourist ETA allows 30 days and two entries and is linked electronically to the passport.
Yes. The payment needs a credit or debit card enabled for international online payments, and it does not have to be in the applicant's name. What matters is that the traveller's name, date of birth and passport number on the form are yours and are entered exactly as printed.
No. Although Sri Lanka has an embassy in Havana, the ETA is an online process with no interview or appointment. The embassy becomes relevant only for purposes the ETA does not cover, for example journalism or other activities needing prior approval.
It is not. Cuba is not one of the forty countries in the waiver, so adult Cuban applicants pay the standard government rate and our service fee. Under-12s are not charged the government fee for a tourist stay of up to 30 days.
Use whichever you will actually travel on, and use it throughout. Spain is on the waiver list for the government charge, so applying with the Spanish passport alters the price. The approval will then be attached to the Spanish passport number and is not valid with the Cuban one.
Most fly from Havana to Istanbul and on to Colombo with Turkish Airlines, or go through Madrid or Paris and a Gulf hub. Allow a full day or more. Confirm whether your Cuban passport needs a transit visa at each stop before you book.
You have six months from the date of issue to begin your trip. Once you arrive, the permitted stay is 30 days, and both of the two allowed entries must fall within those 30 days. The conditions printed on your approval are the final word.
No. Conferences, seminars, business meetings and short training are business purposes and need the business option. The tourist ETA is limited to holidays, family visits, medical treatment and sporting or cultural events, and neither type guarantees admission at the border.
Your nationality is already set to Cuba. 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.
