Japanese passport holders need an approved ETA before boarding for Colombo, even though Sri Lanka waives its government charge for Japan. The authorisation gives 30 days and two entries, and is handled online in English before you leave Narita or Kansai.
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 Japanese citizens
Japan is one of the 40 countries whose tourist ETA carries no Sri Lankan government charge. The ETA itself is still compulsory, and a service fee for our application assistance applies; see the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
Japan and Sri Lanka are tied together by Buddhism, tea and a long record of Japanese engineering on the island, from expressways to terminal works at Colombo's airport. Japanese visitors tend to come for a compact week: Sigiriya and the Dambulla caves, a night in Kandy near the Temple of the Tooth, the hill-country train, and often a few days of Ayurveda on the south-west coast.
None of that requires a consular visit, but it does require paperwork before you fly. Sri Lanka asks every foreign national to hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation for a short stay, and Japanese travellers who search for a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa are looking for the same thing. It is requested online and tied to your passport number.
The news for Japan is good on cost and unchanged on obligation. Since 25 May 2026 Japanese passports have been among the 40 nationalities for which Sri Lanka waives its government charge on the tourist ETA. The authorisation remains mandatory, a service fee for our assistance still applies, and the live prices shown on this page set out the current total.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. A Japanese passport opens most borders without formality, which is why the Sri Lankan rule surprises people: there is no exemption for Japan, only a waiver of the government charge. You should have the ETA approved before check-in at Narita, Haneda, Kansai or Chubu.
The tourist option fits what most Japanese travellers do: sightseeing, private pilgrimage to Buddhist sites, visiting friends, yoga and Ayurveda stays, and taking part in sporting or cultural events. Each traveller is named individually, so a family or a small tour group lists every member, children among them.
Work-related travel is different. Staff of Japanese trading houses, manufacturers and contractors visiting for meetings, negotiations, conferences or training of under a month should choose the business option, not the tourist one. Employment, self-employment, journalism and NGO work are outside the online ETA altogether.
If Colombo is only a stop on the way to Malé or southern India, a transit ETA covers up to two days without a government charge, provided you can show documentary proof of onward travel. Anything longer, or any stay in which you plan to tour, belongs on the tourist ETA.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA gives Japanese visitors 30 days, counted from the day of first arrival, with two entries allowed. That second entry suits a common Japanese itinerary: a week in Sri Lanka, a few nights in a Maldivian resort, then a final night in Colombo before the Narita flight. On re-entry you receive only what is left of the original 30 days.
Once issued, the approval can be used to travel for six months, so you may apply well before Golden Week or Obon bookings are finalised. Whatever is printed on the approval itself takes precedence over any general description.
Passport validity is where Japanese travellers need to look twice. Sri Lanka wants six months remaining on the day you land, while adults choose between five-year and ten-year Japanese passports and under-18s receive five-year books only. A child's passport therefore reaches the six-month line sooner than a parent expects. Stays beyond 30 days need an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla.
Pricing
Live fees for Japanese 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 Japan
Requirements
Everything Japanese 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 ETAs for Japanese applicants are approved within a day or two, though no timescale is promised. Apply at least three to five days before departure, and do not rely on a same-day result simply because your flight leaves late in the morning.
Timing matters more around Japan's concentrated holiday periods. Golden Week, Obon in mid-August and the New Year break send large numbers abroad on the same few days, and December to March is also Sri Lanka's own peak. For those dates, apply a couple of weeks ahead.
The form is completed in English, and Sri Lanka is three and a half hours behind Japan all year. A query raised during the Colombo working day may reach your inbox in the Japanese evening, so check email, junk folder included, until the approval arrives.
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 flies nonstop between Tokyo Narita and Colombo on several days of the week, which is the simplest way to reach the island from Japan. On other days, and from Osaka, Nagoya or Fukuoka, travellers connect once in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong. Schedules change by season, so confirm the operating days before fixing your dates.
Best time to go
Japan's New Year holiday falls squarely in the best season for Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and the hill country, which runs from December to March or April. Leaving a Tokyo winter for Galle Fort, Mirissa's whale-watching boats and the tea estates around Nuwara Eliya is the classic Japanese winter trip.
Golden Week sits at the turn of the seasons. Late April and early May are hot, the south-west monsoon is approaching, and Vesak, the May full moon, fills the island with lanterns, a sight that resonates with Japanese Buddhists. The Cultural Triangle is the safer base for that week.
Obon coincides with the south-west monsoon on the Colombo side but with fine weather on the east coast. Trincomalee, Pasikudah and Arugam Bay are at their best from May to September, and the Kandy Esala Perahera falls in July or August, sometimes close to Obon itself.
Two practical notes. Poya full-moon days are public holidays every month and alcohol is not sold, which can catch out a tour-group dinner. And the three-and-a-half-hour difference is mild westbound, but the overnight return lands in Japan the following morning, so leave a recovery day before work.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Japan — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Hepburn spelling on Japanese passports normally drops long vowels, so Ōno is printed ONO and Yūko is printed YUKO unless you registered an OH or UU form. Typing the version on your business card in place of the passport's creates a mismatch you cannot edit after payment.
Japanese habit and the passport layout both put the family name first, while many online forms ask for the given name first. Read each label before typing, particularly when one person completes the form for a whole tour party.
Many Japanese travellers renew just before a big trip. The ETA is tied to the passport number, so apply only once the new passport is in hand; an approval on the old number does not transfer and the application must be made again.
Approvals come from an overseas sender in English. Mobile-carrier addresses often reject such mail by default, and the applicant waits for a message that was blocked. Use a webmail address you can open abroad.
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's embassy in Tokyo handles consular matters and visa categories that fall outside the online system, such as media assignments needing prior approval. Japanese tourists do not need to visit it, post a passport or attend an interview for an ETA.
FAQs
The questions Japanese passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, in the form of an ETA. Japanese citizens must hold an approved Electronic Travel Authorisation before travelling to Sri Lanka for a short visit; it is often called a visa or e-visa. For tourism it gives 30 days and two entries.
The Sri Lankan government charge on the tourist ETA has been waived for Japanese nationals since 25 May 2026. The ETA is still required, and our service fee for application assistance applies, so check the live prices shown on this page.
Thirty days from first arrival. Two entries are permitted inside that period, and a second entry receives only the unused days. To stay longer you must obtain an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla before the period ends.
In Roman letters, exactly as the passport photo page prints it. Do not add macrons, do not restore long vowels the passport leaves out, and make sure the family name and given name go in the boxes labelled for them.
SriLankan Airlines operates a nonstop service between Tokyo Narita and Colombo on selected days, taking roughly nine and a half hours. From Kansai, Chubu and Fukuoka the usual routing is one stop in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong.
Yes, if both arrivals fall within the 30 days that began with your first entry. A Japanese traveller who spends eight days in Sri Lanka and five in the Maldives returns with the balance of the period, not a new one.
Yes, each child is entered in an application under the details of his or her own passport. Remember that Japanese minors hold five-year passports, so confirm each one still has six months left on the arrival date.
No. Meetings, negotiations, conferences, seminars and training of under a month fall under the business option. Choose it at the start of the application; a tourist ETA does not cover commercial activity even for a single day.
Your nationality is already set to Japan. 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.
