Grenadian passport holders need an approved ETA before flying to Colombo. It gives 30 days and two entries, and with a two-connection journey from Maurice Bishop International it pays to have it settled well before departure.
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
Grenada and Sri Lanka have more in common than the distance suggests. Both are small tropical islands whose names are tied to spice, Grenada for nutmeg and mace and Sri Lanka for the cinnamon that still grows along its south-west coast. Both are Commonwealth countries where cricket is followed closely, and both sit within a dozen degrees of the equator.
Those who do go tend to fall into a few groups: cricket followers travelling with a West Indies tour, Grenadians living in Britain, the Gulf or North America who add Sri Lanka to a wider Asian itinerary, and travellers curious to see a spice island on the other side of the world. Whatever the reason, the entry formality is the same, and it is done online before you travel.
That formality is the Electronic Travel Authorisation, which many people search for as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa. For a Grenadian it replaces any need to send a passport abroad, which matters on an island with no Sri Lankan mission within reach.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. A Grenadian citizen needs an ETA for any short visit to Sri Lanka, and it should be approved before the first flight leaves Grenada. There is no exemption for Commonwealth or CARICOM nationals.
Grenada is not among the forty countries whose nationals have the government charge on a tourist ETA waived, so the standard rate applies to a Grenadian passport. The current figure, together with our service fee for handling the application, is shown in the live prices on this page rather than quoted in the text.
A large share of Grenadians hold a second passport, most often British, American or Canadian, and that changes the arithmetic. Those three nationalities are inside the waiver, so a Grenadian who also holds one of them and travels on it does not pay the government charge. The rule is simply that the application must be made with the passport you will hand to the officer in Colombo, and you cannot apply on one and travel on the other.
Grenada also grants citizenship by investment, and many of those citizens live in the Gulf, West Africa or East Asia and have never applied for anything from St George's. They apply as Grenadian nationals at the standard rate, exactly like someone born in Gouyave.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA issued to a Grenadian allows a stay of 30 days and two entries. The clock starts on the day you first land, and both entries have to fall inside that same 30 days. If you spend twelve days in Sri Lanka, fly to the Maldives for a week and come back, you return to the eleven days that remain, not to a new month.
Once approved, the authorisation can be used for travel during the six months after it is issued. You can apply once flights are confirmed and still be comfortably inside the travel window, though the conditions printed on your own approval are what finally govern.
Staying past the period granted requires an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration, whose head office is at Battaramulla on the edge of Colombo, and it has to be arranged before your permitted stay runs out.
Pricing
Live fees for Grenadian 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 Grenada
Requirements
Everything Grenadian 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 ETA requests are approved within a day or two, and applications from Grenada follow that pattern. What slows it is a name that does not match the document or a passport photograph too blurred to read, both of which can be avoided with five minutes of checking.
We suggest applying at least three to five days before you leave, and for a journey from Grenada a week or more is the sensible minimum. Your first flight is only the start of a trip that may take two calendar days, and you will be asked for the approval at Maurice Bishop International, long before you are anywhere near Sri Lanka. No approval time can be promised, so leave room.
Remember that Sri Lanka is nine and a half hours ahead of Grenada all year, so a query raised during a Colombo morning reaches your inbox while St George's is asleep.
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
There are no nonstop flights between Grenada and Sri Lanka, and the usual journey involves two connections. The most direct line on the map runs through London, where SriLankan Airlines flies nonstop from Heathrow to Colombo. The alternatives go north first to New York, Miami or Toronto and then across to a Gulf hub such as Doha or Dubai. Check the transit rules for each country you pass through, because a connection in the United States means clearing American immigration even if you never leave the airport.
Best time to go
Grenadians do not travel to Sri Lanka for warmth, since both islands are hot all year. The choice of month is about rain and about which coast you want. From December to April the south and west coasts of Sri Lanka, including Galle, Mirissa and Bentota, are dry and calm, and the hill country around Nuwara Eliya and Ella is at its clearest.
Many Grenadians work in tourism and are busiest precisely then, taking their own leave between June and October. That suits Sri Lanka's east coast, where Trincomalee, Pasikudah and Arugam Bay are at their best from May to September while the south-west has its monsoon.
Spicemas in August keeps most Grenadians at home, but the school holiday either side of it lines up with the Kandy Esala Perahera, the great procession held in July or August.
A Christmas trip puts you on the south coast in whale-watching season, which runs off Mirissa from November to April. If you travel in April, expect closures around the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in the middle of the month, and note that monthly Poya full-moon days are public holidays when alcohol is not sold.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Grenada — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Dual nationality is common in Grenadian families with roots in London, New York or Toronto. The ETA is attached to one passport number, so an approval issued against the Grenadian document is of no use if you present a British passport at check-in.
Grenadian passports often carry two or three given names and sometimes a hyphenated family name. Copy the photo page exactly instead, because the approval is compared with the passport, not with your everyday name.
Because the journey takes so long, some travellers plan to apply during a layover in London or Miami. The airline in Grenada may want to see the approval before issuing boarding passes for the whole itinerary.
Grenadians travelling for a Commonwealth meeting, a regional workshop or short training sometimes select the tourist ETA because the stay is brief. Conferences, seminars and training of under a month fall under the business option, and the purpose you declare should match what you will be doing.
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 mission in St George's and looks after its relations with Grenada from abroad. That makes little difference to a visitor, because the ETA is applied for and issued online with no interview and no passport to post. If you need consular advice on something the ETA does not cover, confirm with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs which mission currently handles Grenada before contacting one.
FAQs
The questions Grenadian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Grenadian citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, often called a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, before travelling for a short visit. It is applied for online, allows 30 days with two entries, and should be approved before you leave Grenada.
No. Grenada is outside the group of forty countries with a waived government charge, so the standard rate applies to a tourist ETA on a Grenadian passport. Under-12s from Grenada are spared that charge, and today's total is in the live prices on this page.
Either is acceptable, but you must apply with the one you will travel on. British nationals have the government charge waived for a tourist ETA, while a Grenadian passport attracts the standard rate, so many dual citizens choose the British document for this trip and carry it throughout.
For 30 days, counted from the first arrival in Colombo. The tourist ETA permits two entries inside that period, so a side trip to the Maldives or southern India is possible, but the second entry only gives you the days left over.
With two connections. The common routings are via London, continuing on the SriLankan Airlines nonstop from Heathrow, or via New York or Miami and then a Gulf hub such as Doha or Dubai.
No. Identification cards accepted for travel between some Eastern Caribbean states have no standing in Sri Lanka. The ETA is recorded against a passport number.
Yes. Where you live does not affect eligibility. You apply online as a Grenadian national using your Grenadian passport details, and the standard rate applies.
Yes. Attending sporting events as a spectator falls within tourist purposes. Matches are spread between grounds such as Galle, Colombo and Pallekele near Kandy, so 30 days is ample for a full series.
Your nationality is already set to Grenada. 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.
