Indonesian passport holders must hold an ETA before boarding for Colombo, whether from Jakarta or through Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Tourist visits get 30 days and two entries, with the government charge waived for Indonesian nationals.
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 Indonesian citizens
Indonesia is on Sri Lanka's list of 40 countries whose nationals are not charged the government fee for a tourist ETA. You still need the ETA itself, and a service fee applies; the live prices shown on this page have the current figure.
Overview
Indonesia and Sri Lanka sit at opposite ends of the same stretch of Indian Ocean, and the connection is older than most travellers realise. The island's Malay community descends in large part from Javanese and other Indonesian exiles and soldiers brought over in the Dutch colonial period, and their mosques, surnames and cooking are still part of Colombo and Hambantota today.
Modern Indonesian visitors come for different reasons: Buddhist families from Medan, Jakarta and Surabaya tracing the route from Borobudur's faith back to Anuradhapura, Muslim travellers looking for a halal-friendly destination that is not the Gulf, and surfers curious about a right-hand point break outside their own archipelago. All of them need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the document often searched for as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa.
Since 25 May 2026 Indonesian nationals have been among those whose government charge on a tourist ETA is waived. That removes one cost, not the requirement, and our service fee for the application is still payable, so please read the live prices shown on this page before you start.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes, every WNI travelling on an Indonesian paspor needs one, and it should be approved before you leave Soekarno-Hatta or Ngurah Rai. The waiver changed what the Sri Lankan government charges Indonesians, not whether the authorisation is required, and airlines continue to check for it.
A tourist ETA covers the usual reasons Indonesians visit: sightseeing, climbing Sri Pada, which many Muslims revere as the place of Adam's footprint, seeing relatives or friends, Ayurveda and yoga stays, and attending sporting or cultural events. None of that includes earning money on the island.
Indonesian professionals in tea, palm oil, coal, textiles and shipping visit Colombo for meetings regularly, and those trips call for the business option. So does a short training course of under a month or a seat at a regional conference. Select it at the start of the application so the purpose matches what you will actually be doing.
Families should note that babies and children are not exempt from the paperwork. A child travelling on his or her own Indonesian passport is entered as a separate traveller.
Stay & validity
Indonesian citizens receive 30 days on a tourist ETA, starting on the day of first arrival, and may enter twice. People who combine Sri Lanka with South India or the Maldives use the second entry to come back for the return flight to Jakarta.
Do not expect a second 30 days on re-entry. An Indonesian traveller who arrives on the 5th, leaves for Chennai on the 15th and returns on the 22nd is granted only what remains of the original period. Anyone hoping to stay longer must apply in person for an extension at the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla.
The approval can be used for travel for six months after it is issued, which gives room to apply well before Lebaran flights are booked. It is recorded against one passport number. If you replace a five-year paspor with a new ten-year one before departure, the old authorisation does not carry over and you will need to apply again.
Pricing
Live fees for Indonesian 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 Indonesia
Requirements
Everything Indonesian 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.
Applications from Indonesian nationals are generally approved within one or two days. Nobody can guarantee a turnaround, so submit at least three to five days before departure, and treat that as a minimum if you are flying from eastern Indonesia with a long domestic leg first.
The mudik period is the one to watch. Flights out of Jakarta fill weeks before Idul Fitri, fares climb, and anyone who discovers a passport or spelling problem in the final days has very little room to rebook. Putting in the application as soon as tickets are bought costs nothing extra in waiting time.
Jakarta, on WIB, is an hour and a half ahead of Colombo, Bali two and a half and Jayapura three and a half. An approval issued during the Sri Lankan working day may therefore land in a Papuan inbox in the evening.
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
SriLankan Airlines links Jakarta with Colombo nonstop on several days a week, which is the simplest option from Java. From Bali, Surabaya, Medan and Makassar the usual pattern is one change in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, both of which have frequent onward flights to Bandaranaike International.
Best time to go
Both countries are tropical, so an Indonesian visitor is not chasing warmth. The question is which coast is dry. Sri Lanka's west and south, with Galle Fort, Mirissa and the tea hills behind them, are at their best from December to March, which matches the Indonesian year-end school holiday and coincides with the wettest weeks in Java and Bali.
Lebaran moves about eleven days earlier each year and over the next few years falls in February and March. That places the Idul Fitri break inside the dry season on the south-west side of the island, a good fit for a family trip, provided flights are secured early.
The mid-year school holiday in June and July is the opposite case. The south-west is in its monsoon then, so look east to Trincomalee, Pasikudah and Arugam Bay, where the surf season runs from May to September. Indonesian surfers used to Uluwatu or the Mentawais will find Arugam Bay mellower and far less crowded in the water.
Waisak and Vesak are the same full moon in May. Indonesian Buddhists who have seen the lanterns released at Borobudur often travel to see how Colombo and Kandy mark the day with pandals and free food stalls.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Indonesia — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Millions of Indonesians have a single legal name, and online forms that demand both a surname and a given name invite improvisation. Repeating the name, adding a father's name or typing a placeholder can each produce a record that differs from the passport. Tell us it is a single-name passport so the fields follow the machine-readable line.
Passports prepared for Umrah or Hajj sometimes carry an added name on the endorsement page to satisfy Saudi requirements. Sri Lanka's system works from the photo page. Entering the longer endorsed name creates a mismatch with the document the airline scans in Jakarta.
Indonesia now issues ten-year passports to adults, and many travellers plan to swap an older five-year booklet before a big trip. Apply for the ETA only once the new paspor is in your hand, because the authorisation follows the number and not the person.
News of the fee waiver spread quickly on Indonesian travel forums, often shortened to the idea that Sri Lanka had gone visa-free. It has not. An Indonesian who turns up at check-in with no ETA is in the same position as any other passenger without one.
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
The Sri Lankan embassy in Jakarta looks after consular services and the visa types that cannot be requested online. For an ETA, Indonesian applicants complete everything electronically, with no visit to the embassy, no interview and no need to send a passport by courier from another island.
FAQs
The questions Indonesian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Indonesian citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before travelling, which is what most people mean by a Sri Lanka visa for a short visit. It grants 30 days and two entries for tourism. Indonesia is on the waiver list, so the government charge is not applied to tourist ETAs, but the authorisation is still compulsory.
No. What changed on 25 May 2026 is that Sri Lanka stopped collecting its government charge from Indonesian nationals on tourist ETAs. You must still apply and be approved before flying, and a service fee applies when you apply through us. Current totals are in the live prices shown on this page.
Apply as normal and let us know the passport carries a single name. The surname and given-name fields are then completed to agree with the machine-readable line at the bottom of the photo page. Please do not invent a second name or copy one from another document.
SriLankan Airlines operates a nonstop service between Jakarta and Colombo on several days of the week, taking about four and a half hours. On other days, or from Bali, Surabaya and Medan, travellers connect in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Check the airline's current schedule, as frequencies vary through the year.
Up to 30 days from the first arrival, with a second entry allowed inside that same period. Returning from India or the Maldives does not give a new 30 days. To remain longer, request an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration while you are in the country.
Sri Lanka has a long-established Muslim community, so halal food and mosques are easy to find in Colombo, Galle, Kandy and Beruwala. The red-and-white Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque in Pettah is a landmark in its own right.
Not the tourist one. Meetings, negotiations, conferences and training of under a month belong to the business option, which you choose when applying. Indonesian staff sent to meet tea or commodity partners should apply on that basis even if the visit lasts only two days.
No. The authorisation is tied to the passport number you applied with, so a renewed or replaced Indonesian passport needs a new application. Government charges, where any were paid, are not refunded or moved across, which is why it is better to renew first and apply second.
Your nationality is already set to Indonesia. 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.
