Jordanian nationals need an approved ETA for Sri Lanka and usually fly from Amman with one connection in the Gulf. The tourist ETA allows 30 days and two entries; the standard government rate applies to Jordanian passports.
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
Sri Lanka is not yet a mainstream destination for Jordanians, which is part of its appeal. Couples from Amman choose it for honeymoons, often paired with the Maldives, and a growing number of families and independent travellers go for the wildlife, the tea country and beaches that are warm when Jordan is under winter rain.
A Jordanian passport requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation for Sri Lanka. In everyday use, and in most Arabic-language searches, it is simply called the Sri Lanka visa or e-visa. The ETA is applied for on the internet ahead of travel and linked to your passport number, so there is no need to deposit a passport at an embassy.
Jordan is not among the 40 countries covered by Sri Lanka's 2026 waiver, so Jordanian citizens are charged the standard government rate for a tourist ETA, along with our service fee. Amounts change, and the live prices shown on this page are the place to check them. Many Jordanians live in the Gulf; if that is you, your nationality still decides the charge, not your country of residence.
At a glance
Eligibility
All Jordanian citizens need one. Sri Lanka does not exempt any nationality from the ETA for a short stay, and the carriers that take most Jordanians there — Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad and flydubai among them — verify it at Queen Alia International before accepting you for the first leg.
The tourist ETA gives 30 days and is correct for a honeymoon, a holiday, a visit to friends or relatives, medical or Ayurvedic treatment, a yoga retreat, or attendance at a sporting or cultural event.
Jordanian engineers, doctors and academics travelling for a conference or workshop, and business people going for meetings or negotiations, should apply under the business option. A tourist ETA does not allow business, trade or employment of any kind, and work for media outlets or non-governmental organisations needs separate government approval in advance.
Children must be included however young. One helpful rule for Jordanian families is that no government fee is charged for a child under 12 on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days, although the child still needs to be named in an application with a valid passport.
Stay & validity
Jordanian visitors are admitted for 30 days, starting on the date of first arrival. A second entry is allowed during that period. Honeymooners commonly use it to fly to Malé and back, and they should plan so that the return to Colombo and the flight home both fall before day thirty.
The ETA can be used to travel for six months from the day it is issued, with the conditions shown on the approval taking priority. Because the government charge for Jordanians is non-refundable and cannot be transferred, it is worth being sure of your passport before you apply.
That means two checks. First, six months of validity on the arrival date; an adult Jordanian passport runs for five years, so the final year disappears quickly. Second, no planned renewal: a new passport has a new number, and the ETA and the fee paid for it stay with the old one.
Pricing
Live fees for Jordanian 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 Jordan
Requirements
Everything Jordanian 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 Jordanian applicants hear back within a day or two. Please do not plan around the fastest case. Three to five days before departure is the minimum lead time we recommend, and a honeymoon with fixed, prepaid arrangements deserves longer.
Jordan's wedding season peaks in summer and early autumn, and with it comes a wave of honeymoon bookings. Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are the other busy points, followed by the school winter break in January. Travelling at any of these times, apply two weeks ahead.
Because an error discovered after payment cannot be corrected and the government charge is not returned, the review stage matters more for Jordanians than for nationalities on the waiver list. Read each name and number aloud against the passport before you confirm.
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 is no nonstop service between Jordan and Sri Lanka, so the journey is made with one change of aircraft, almost always in the Gulf. Connections are frequent and usually short. Jordanians living in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar or Kuwait have it easier, with direct flights to Colombo from their city of residence.
Best time to go
Jordan's winter is cold and wet in Amman and the highlands, and that is precisely when Sri Lanka's south and west coasts are in season. December to March brings dry days in Bentota, Galle and Mirissa. The January school holiday makes it a practical time for families.
Summer is wedding and honeymoon time. Between June and September the east coast offers the best beach conditions, with Pasikudah and Trincomalee calm and sunny, while the south-west has its rains. Couples adding the Maldives should know that it shares the wetter south-west monsoon in those months.
Spring and autumn suit the cultural circuit. Jordanians, who grow up with Petra and Jerash, tend to appreciate the rock fortress of Sigiriya, the cave temples at Dambulla and the ruined capitals of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. October and November can bring inter-monsoon showers across the island.
Sri Lanka is two and a half hours ahead of Jordan, which has kept the same clock time all year since 2022. Arriving after an overnight connection, most travellers adjust within a day. Poya days, at each full moon, 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 Jordan — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
News of Sri Lanka's waiver circulated widely in Arabic media, and the six Gulf states are all on the list. Jordan is not. A Jordanian resident of Dubai or Riyadh pays the standard government rate like a Jordanian in Amman, and should not select another nationality on the form.
Jordanian passports usually show the holder's name, father's name, grandfather's name and family name. Leaving out the middle two because the ticket omits them creates a difference between the ETA and the passport. Enter everything printed, in order.
The national number is the reference Jordanians give for most official business. Sri Lanka's system knows nothing about it. Only the passport number links the ETA to you, and one wrong character means paying for a second application.
A two-centre trip with the Maldives in the middle has three border crossings to fit into 30 days. If the last few nights in Sri Lanka drift past day thirty, the second entry will not cover them. Count from the first landing in Colombo, not from the return.
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 an embassy in Amman, which also serves Sri Lankans working in Jordan. For a tourist ETA a Jordanian citizen has no need to go there. Applications are submitted online and the result is sent by email.
FAQs
The questions Jordanian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Jordanian citizens must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation, generally referred to as a Sri Lanka visa, before they travel. It is applied for online, allows a 30-day tourist stay and is linked to the passport number.
No. Jordan is not one of the 40 countries on the waiver list, so the standard government rate applies to a Jordanian tourist ETA in addition to our service fee. Current amounts are in the live prices shown on this page.
Yes, the whole process is online. You enter your passport and travel details in English, upload an image of the photo page, pay by card and wait for the approval email. Nothing needs to be handed in at the embassy in Amman.
Thirty days on a tourist ETA, beginning on the day of first arrival, with two entries allowed in that time. Extensions are a matter for the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, once you are in the country.
The one for Jordanian nationals. Sri Lanka sets the government charge by citizenship, so holding UAE residence does not bring you under the Emirati waiver. Apply with your Jordanian passport details as they are.
The government fee on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days is not charged for children under 12. They must still be included in an application and hold their own passport with at least six months of validity.
Not as a regular scheduled service. The usual routes involve a single stop in Doha, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, with a total journey of around nine to eleven hours depending on the connection.
Yes. The tourist ETA permits two entries, so you can leave for the Maldives and re-enter Sri Lanka. Both entries must be within 30 days of your first arrival, and on return you are given only the days that remain.
Your nationality is already set to Jordan. 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.
