Ghanaians travelling to Sri Lanka need an ETA approved before departure from Kotoka. One online application covers a 30-day stay with two entries, and no visit to a consulate is required at any stage.
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
Ghana and Sri Lanka have more in common than the distance suggests. Both are Commonwealth countries with a cricket-and-tea colonial inheritance, English as a working language, a coastline of old trading forts and a reputation for being easy places to visit. Even so, few Ghanaians make the trip, and those who do tend to plan it carefully, which is why the entry paperwork is worth getting right first time.
That paperwork is the Electronic Travel Authorisation, or ETA. You may see it advertised as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and for a Ghanaian tourist the terms describe one and the same online permission. There is nothing to collect and nothing stuck in the passport, only an approval email that immigration matches to your passport number.
Below you will find the Ghanaian version of the rules: how the government charge applies to a Ghana passport, what two entries in 30 days really allow, how day names and compound surnames should go on the form, and how to route yourself from Accra to Colombo with one change of aircraft.
At a glance
Eligibility
A Ghanaian citizen cannot board for Sri Lanka on the strength of a passport alone. An ETA is compulsory for every short visit, whatever your age, and Sri Lanka expects it to be in place before you travel. Check-in staff at Kotoka verify it for the connecting carriers that take most Ghanaians east.
Ghana sits outside the group of forty countries that stopped paying the government charge on 25 May 2026. It also falls outside the reciprocal and SAARC categories, which leaves the standard rate. Our own service fee is added for preparing and submitting the application, and the two are set out together in the live prices shown on this page.
Holidays, visiting relatives or friends, wellness stays built around Ayurveda and yoga, and taking part in a sports tournament are all covered by the tourist ETA. Ghanaian entrepreneurs attending trade fairs, cocoa or tea industry meetings, workshops or short training courses need the business option instead, as do pastors and choirs travelling for a religious conference.
The many Ghanaians who also hold British, American, Canadian, Dutch or German citizenship should apply on whichever passport they will actually present in Colombo. Those five nationalities benefit from the waiver; a Ghana passport does not. What you cannot do is apply on one and travel on the other, because the approval is matched by number.
Stay & validity
Thirty days is the stay a Ghanaian receives on a tourist ETA, counted from the first arrival stamp. Two entries are allowed, yet they share that one period. A Ghanaian who flies in, spends a week on the island, hops to southern India for four days and comes back will be readmitted for the nineteen days still unused.
You do not have to travel the moment the approval lands. It stays usable for six months from the date of issue, so applying in October for a February trip is perfectly sensible. Whatever your approval notice states about dates and conditions is what binds you, ahead of any website description.
Passport validity is counted forwards from the day you reach Sri Lanka, and six months must remain. Ghana has been moving citizens onto newer chip-embedded booklets, and anyone replacing an older passport before the trip should wait for the new one before applying. An ETA granted against the old number is void once that booklet is cancelled.
Pricing
Live fees for Ghanaian 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 Ghana
Requirements
Everything Ghanaian 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 Ghanaian applications generally come through in one or two days. Nobody can promise a particular hour, so treat that as the usual pattern and build in a cushion: three to five days before departure is the sensible minimum, and a week is better if you are travelling as a group.
Ghana is on Greenwich Mean Time throughout the year and Sri Lanka runs five and a half hours ahead. When offices open in Accra at eight, it is already half past one in the afternoon in Colombo. Anything you submit late in the Ghanaian day will normally be looked at on the next Sri Lankan working day.
Give yourself extra time around Christmas and Easter, when Accra's outbound flights are busy and Sri Lanka's west coast is in peak season. The mid-April Sinhala and Tamil New Year and the monthly Poya holidays also slow things on the Sri Lankan side, and they are easy to overlook from West Africa.
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
Kotoka International in Accra has no direct service to Sri Lanka, but one-stop itineraries through the Gulf are straightforward and run daily. Travellers from Kumasi, Tamale or Takoradi take a domestic flight or the road to Accra first, and should leave a generous gap before a long-haul departure.
Best time to go
Ghana's own dry season, from November to March, lines up neatly with the best months on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and in the hill country. If you leave Accra in January you exchange harmattan haze for bright mornings in Galle Fort and cool evenings among the tea estates of Nuwara Eliya.
Travel during the long school vacation, around August, calls for a different map. The south-west is wet then, while the east coast around Trincomalee and Pasikudah enjoys calm seas and sunshine. Surfers head to Arugam Bay in those same months, and wildlife watchers can still find leopards in Yala and Wilpattu.
Ghanaians used to a festive December at home sometimes prefer to leave after the New Year, and the second half of January is a good choice: holiday crowds thin out and the whale-watching boats from Mirissa are in full swing. October and November bring unsettled inter-monsoon showers across most of the island.
Expect warmth and humidity much like the Ghanaian coast at sea level, and a real chill at altitude. Pack a sweater for Ella and Nuwara Eliya, and remember that on Poya full-moon days bars close and alcohol is unavailable, even in tourist areas.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Ghana — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Many Ghanaians answer to Kwesi, Yaw, Abena or Esi without that name appearing on any official document. If it is missing from the passport, leave it off the form. The reverse also applies: a day name printed on the data page must be entered even if you never use it.
Cards issued in Ghana are not always switched on for online purchases from foreign merchants. Applicants reach the payment screen, are declined and assume the application went through. Ask your bank to enable international e-commerce before you start, and wait for the confirmation email before assuming anything.
With newer chip-embedded passports being issued, some Ghanaians renew shortly before a big trip. The authorisation belongs to the number you typed in, so the order matters: collect the new booklet first, then apply.
A visit to an exhibition in Colombo, a meeting with a tea exporter or a short professional workshop falls under business purposes. Choosing the tourist option because it seems simpler leaves you outside the conditions of your own approval.
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 high commission in Accra, and Ghana is looked after from the mission in Nairobi. For an ETA this makes no practical difference, as nothing is submitted in person. A diplomatic mission only becomes relevant for matters the online system does not handle, such as long-stay or approval-based visas.
FAQs
The questions Ghanaian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Ghanaian citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, often called a Sri Lanka visa, before travelling for a short visit. It is obtained online, permits a 30-day stay with two entries and is recorded against your passport number.
Not at present. The waiver introduced in May 2026 names forty countries and Ghana is not one of them, so Ghanaian applicants are charged the standard government rate. Look at the live prices shown on this page for the up-to-date figure.
There is no resident Sri Lankan high commission in Ghana, and you do not need one. Tourist ETAs are applied for entirely online from anywhere in the country, whether you live in Accra, Kumasi or Tamale.
Copy the surname and other names from the passport data page without changing their order or spelling. Keep hyphens where they are printed, and include or omit a day name according to what the document shows, not what friends call you.
Yes, the tourist ETA is double entry. Both arrivals must fall within 30 days of the first one, and on returning you receive only the days that remain, so plan the side trip with that arithmetic in mind.
Health checks are separate from immigration, but passengers arriving from countries with yellow fever risk, Ghana among them, are asked to show proof of vaccination. Keep your yellow card with your passport, as you would for returning through Kotoka.
At least three to five days ahead, and earlier for Christmas, Easter or group travel. Because the approval remains valid for travel for six months, there is little reason to leave it to the final week.
Yes, each Ghanaian child has to be entered on an application under their own passport. Sri Lanka does not levy its government fee on children under 12 for a tourist visit of up to 30 days, but the requirement to be authorised still applies to them.
Your nationality is already set to Ghana. 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.
