Whether you are from St Kitts or Nevis, or hold the federation's passport while living abroad, an ETA is required before you travel to Sri Lanka. It allows 30 days and two entries and is requested entirely online.
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
Saint Kitts and Nevis is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, and its passport travels further than its population would suggest. Alongside Kittitians and Nevisians born in the federation, it is held by a sizeable community of economic citizens across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, many of whom live within a few hours of Colombo.
So the audience for this page is split. One group starts from Basseterre or Charlestown and faces a journey of more than a day. The other may be boarding in Dubai, Doha or Singapore for a single flight of a few hours. The entry rule is identical for both.
That rule is the Electronic Travel Authorisation. You will also hear it called a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, though strictly it is an online permission attached to your passport. Here is how it works for a Saint Kitts and Nevis passport, and what to watch for in each of those two situations.
At a glance
Eligibility
Every Saint Kitts and Nevis national visiting Sri Lanka for a short stay must have an ETA granted beforehand. It makes no difference whether you were born in Sandy Point, naturalised last year or have never set foot in the federation. Sri Lanka looks at the passport, and this passport requires the authorisation.
Saint Kitts and Nevis pays the standard government rate. It was not named among the forty countries given a waiver on the tourist ETA in 2026. Our pricing panel on this page displays the live figure and our own service fee separately, so you can see what each part costs.
The federation has offered citizenship by investment since 1984, longer than any other country. Holders who live in a state that is on the waiver list, such as the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, sometimes expect the waiver to follow their residence. It does not. It follows nationality, and a resident of Dubai travelling on a Saint Kitts and Nevis passport pays the standard rate.
Kittitians and Nevisians by birth often have British, American or Canadian citizenship too, through the large communities in Leeds, Birmingham, New York and Toronto. Any of those passports qualifies for the waiver. The choice is yours, so long as one passport is used consistently from application to arrival.
Stay & validity
On a tourist ETA a Kittitian or Nevisian receives 30 days, starting from the first landing in Sri Lanka, and may enter twice. The second entry is not a fresh grant. Come back after eight days away and you resume a period that kept running in your absence.
After approval there is a six-month window in which to travel. Gulf-based passport holders who visit on impulse and Caribbean-based ones who plan a year ahead are both well served by that. Whatever is printed on your individual approval is the final word.
If 30 days will not be enough, the place to apply for more is the Department of Immigration and Emigration, headquartered at Battaramulla. Do so while your stay is still valid. Frequent or successive visits intended to keep you living in the country are outside what a tourist ETA permits.
Pricing
Live fees for Saint Kitts and Nevis 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 Saint Kitts and Nevis
Requirements
Everything Saint Kitts and Nevis 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.
Approvals for Saint Kitts and Nevis passports usually take one to two days. The commonest reason for anything slower is a discrepancy between the form and the passport, often in the birth country or in a name with more than one accepted Latin spelling.
Apply no later than three to five days before you intend to fly. Travellers setting out from Basseterre around Sugar Mas at Christmas and New Year should apply in early December, as that fortnight is also the busiest of Sri Lanka's season. We cannot commit to a time on the government's behalf.
The federation is nine and a half hours behind Sri Lanka in all seasons. Gulf residents are only an hour and a half behind. Whichever applies, look at your inbox on the morning after you submit, and again before you leave for the airport.
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
From the federation itself there is no direct way to Sri Lanka. British Airways serves Robert L. Bradshaw International from London Gatwick, usually by way of Antigua, and London gives access to the SriLankan Airlines nonstop out of Heathrow. American Airlines flies to Miami for connections on Gulf carriers. Nevisians cross to St Kitts by ferry or fly from Vance W. Amory through a regional hub. Economic citizens in the Gulf have it far easier, with frequent nonstops to Colombo from Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi. Verify transit rules for any country on the way.
Best time to go
The Caribbean winter is when St Kitts and Nevis earns its living from visitors, and it matches the best months for Sri Lanka's south-west coast and highlands. A January trip gives you whales off Mirissa, clear mornings at Horton Plains and a full cricket calendar in Colombo.
The St Kitts Music Festival in late June and Culturama on Nevis at the end of July bracket the early summer. Travel between or after them and Sri Lanka's east coast is the place to be, with Trincomalee's bays sheltered from the monsoon that is soaking Colombo at the same time.
Independence Day on 19 September sits at the peak of the hurricane season. Sri Lanka's east coast season is ending by then and the inter-monsoon rains follow in October and November. This is the least rewarding time to go from either starting point, although fares from the Gulf are often lower.
Passport holders living in the Gulf tend to visit over Eid breaks and long weekends, whatever the month. If one coincides with Vesak at the May full moon, expect lantern-lit streets, closed bars and busy temples. Wilpattu and Yala are good in the dry months for anyone hoping to see a leopard.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Saint Kitts and Nevis — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Economic citizens resident in the Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia see those countries on Sri Lanka's waiver list and assume it covers them. The waiver is by nationality. A Saint Kitts and Nevis passport is charged the standard rate wherever its holder lives.
Saint Kitts and Nevis has recalled and reissued passports in the past, and some holders keep both the old and new booklets. Only the current one is valid for travel. An ETA granted against a superseded passport number will not match at the border.
Forms often copy nationality into the birth field. For an economic citizen born in Tehran, Karachi or Shanghai that produces a false entry. Correct it to the birthplace shown in the passport before you submit.
Nevisians are citizens of the federation and carry its passport. There is no Nevis option to find. Choose Saint Kitts and Nevis, and put Charlestown or wherever applies as the place of birth.
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
Basseterre has no Sri Lankan representation, and the federation is handled from a mission overseas. Please check with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs which one before relying on any particular office. For an ETA you will not need to, because the authorisation is requested, paid for and delivered online. The Gulf posts are listed only because so many holders of this passport live near them.
FAQs
The questions Saint Kitts and Nevis passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Citizens of Saint Kitts and Nevis need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online permit usually described as a Sri Lanka visa, before a short visit. It gives 30 days with two entries and must be approved before you travel.
No. The waiver applies to nationals of the listed countries, not to their residents. Your nationality for this purpose is Saint Kitts and Nevis, which pays the standard government rate. See the live prices shown on this page.
No. Both are citizens of the same federation with the same passport. The application, the charge and the 30-day stay are the same. Nevis does not appear as a nationality of its own in the form.
Yes. It is accepted like any other Saint Kitts and Nevis passport. Enter the federation as your nationality and your actual country of birth, and make sure the booklet you use is your current one.
Usually a little over a day. The main options are British Airways to London followed by SriLankan Airlines from Heathrow, or American Airlines to Miami followed by a Gulf carrier. Both need two connections.
Yes. Children must be included in an application with their own passport details. Those under 12 are not charged the government fee for a tourist ETA of up to 30 days.
No. Meetings, negotiations and conferences require the business option. Many Saint Kitts and Nevis passport holders travel for commercial reasons, so choose the category that reflects the real purpose of the trip when you begin the application.
It stops being usable. The authorisation belongs to the passport number on the application, and a renewed or replacement passport has a new number. You would need to apply again with the new details.
Your nationality is already set to Saint Kitts and Nevis. 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.
