Latvian citizens flying from Riga need an approved ETA before departure. It permits a 30-day stay with two entries, must match your passport to the letter, and is charged at the standard government rate.
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
Riga is the busiest air hub in the Baltics, and Latvians use it to go a long way. Winter travel to Asia has grown steadily, and Sri Lanka attracts those looking beyond the standard package resorts: surfers and yoga students on the south coast, couples on a first big trip after a wedding, and walkers drawn to the trails and tea estates of the highlands.
The paperwork is light but not optional. Sri Lanka requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation, known informally as a Sri Lanka visa or, in Latvian, simply vīza. It is an online application linked to your passport number, and it should be approved before you check in at Riga airport.
Latvian citizens pay the standard government charge for the ETA. A waiver has applied to 40 nationalities since 25 May 2026, and although it includes nearby Poland and Finland, Latvia is not among them. Our service fee is added to the government charge, and the live prices shown on this page are the figures to rely on.
At a glance
Eligibility
All foreign nationals need an ETA to visit Sri Lanka for a short stay, and Latvians are included without qualification. EU citizenship does not help here. If recent trips have taken you to places that admit Latvians with nothing more than a passport stamp, do not carry that expectation to Colombo.
A tourist ETA is intended for holidays, sightseeing, visits to friends or relatives, medical and Ayurveda treatment, and sporting or cultural events. Paid work, unpaid work and self-employment are all ruled out, as is using repeated visits as a way of living in Sri Lanka.
Latvians travelling for work purposes, such as trade negotiations, a seminar or a training course of under a month, should choose the business option. A stop of no more than two days between flights can be covered by a transit ETA, which has no government charge but needs proof of the onward booking.
Latvia has a large diaspora, and some Latvians hold a second passport from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia or the United States. The application follows whichever passport you choose to travel on, and that passport must then be used for the whole journey. You cannot apply on one and present the other.
Stay & validity
With a tourist ETA a Latvian citizen may stay 30 days from the date of first arrival and enter twice. Both arrivals have to occur inside that window. Should you leave for a few days in Malé and return, you will be admitted for what remains of the 30 days and no more.
You may travel at any point in the six months after the ETA is issued, and the approval notice sets out the binding conditions. This gives plenty of room to apply when winter fares from Riga are released and to travel months afterwards.
Your passport needs six months of validity counted from arrival. Adult Latvian passports usually run for ten years, but those issued to children and young people have shorter terms, so check each family member's document. A replacement passport means a different number and therefore a fresh ETA.
Thirty days cannot be stretched by the ETA itself. To remain longer you must obtain an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration, whose head office is at Battaramulla near Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for Latvian 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 Latvia
Requirements
Everything Latvian 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 Latvian applications are approved in one or two days. That is the usual experience and not an undertaking. We recommend applying a minimum of three to five days before you fly, and more ahead of the Christmas and New Year period, when Riga's winter departures to warm destinations are at their fullest.
Latvian school breaks fall in late October, over Christmas and in mid-March. The March week is the one that matters for Sri Lanka, since it lands in the dry season, and families who book it late often leave the ETA later still. Deal with both on the same evening.
A submitted and paid application cannot be edited. Any correction means applying again and paying the standard government charge a second time, as it is non-refundable and cannot be transferred. For Latvian applicants the surname ending is the detail to look at twice.
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 flight from Latvia to Sri Lanka. Turkish Airlines from Riga to Istanbul, with a connection to Colombo, is the most direct year-round routing. airBaltic's network from Riga feeds larger hubs such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Helsinki, and in recent winter seasons it has also flown to Dubai, where Emirates and flydubai continue to Colombo. Travellers from Liepāja, Daugavpils and the regions start by road to Riga.
Best time to go
Latvian winters are grey more than they are cold, and by January the appeal of dependable sunshine is strong. Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and its hill country are at their best from December to March. Expect dry days in Galle and Mirissa, cool mornings in Nuwara Eliya, and good wildlife viewing in Yala and Wilpattu.
The mid-March school holiday is well placed for a family trip, falling before the heat builds and before the south-west monsoon. The long weekend around 18 November is less fortunate: November is an inter-monsoon month with showers across the island, and the east coast is entering its wetter spell.
Hardly anyone leaves Latvia at Līgo, and summer in general is for the countryside and the Jūrmala seafront. If your only free weeks are in July or August, the east coast is the place: Arugam Bay for surf, Pasikudah and Trincomalee for calm water. The Kandy Esala Perahera falls in the same months.
In winter Sri Lanka is three and a half hours ahead of Latvia, and in summer the gap narrows to two and a half. An overnight connection is typical on the way out, so plan a light first day in Negombo or Colombo before heading inland.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Latvia — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Latvian grammar gives men and women different endings, so Kalniņš, his wife Kalniņa and their daughter Kalniņa are all correct. Foreign booking sites sometimes push families towards one spelling. The ETA must follow each individual passport, ending included.
Some Latvian passports record the original spelling of a foreign or historical family name on a separate page. That entry is for reference. The name on the photo page and in the machine-readable zone is the one border systems read, and the one to type.
Dual nationals in the Latvian diaspora sometimes apply with whichever passport is nearest to hand. The ETA is stored against a single passport number. Decide which document you will travel on, apply with it, and carry it for both entry and exit.
When the journey is built from two bookings, for example airBaltic to Dubai and another airline onward, you will check in again at the hub and be asked for your Sri Lanka documents there. Carry the ETA approval and onward ticket in printed form.
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
Riga has no Sri Lankan embassy. Latvia is served by a regional mission, and the closest resident embassy is Sri Lanka's in Stockholm. Latvian citizens need not contact it to obtain an ETA, because the application is submitted and answered electronically.
FAQs
The questions Latvian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Latvians need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) approved before they travel; it fulfils the role of a Sri Lanka visa for short stays. A tourist ETA allows 30 days and two entries and is matched to your Latvian passport number.
Yes. Latvia is not included in the 40-country waiver that started on 25 May 2026, so the standard government charge applies, along with our service fee. Only children under 12 are spared the government fee. See the live prices shown on this page.
Each of you enters the surname exactly as it stands in your own passport. The difference is expected and causes no difficulty. Problems arise only when one spouse's ending is copied onto the other's entry.
Either may be used, but you must apply with and travel on the same one. The ETA is tied to that passport's number, and the nationality you declare is the one printed in it. The price displayed will reflect the passport you select.
No. The simplest routing is one stop in Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. Connections via Dubai, Doha or a western European hub are also used, and the journey from Riga takes around 13 to 15 hours by the quickest of them.
The limit is 30 days, measured from the first arrival. You may enter a second time within those days. For a longer visit, a Latvian traveller has to request an extension from the immigration department in Battaramulla.
Yes, every child must be included in an application. Latvian under-12s are not charged the government fee for a tourist stay of up to 30 days. Check the child's passport expiry, as Latvian children's passports have a short validity.
As soon as you have flights. The ETA is valid for travel for six months after issue, so a January application covers a March departure with ease. Three to five days before flying is the latest sensible point.
Your nationality is already set to Latvia. 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.
