Lithuanian citizens, whether leaving from Vilnius or from a home abroad, need an ETA before travelling to Sri Lanka. The tourist ETA grants 30 days and two entries and is subject to the standard government charge.
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
Lithuanians have become confident long-haul travellers in a short time. Where a winter break once meant Egypt or Turkey, it now often means Asia, and Sri Lanka has found a following among Lithuanians who want variety in a small space: a few days of temples and rock fortresses, a scenic train to Ella, then a week of surf or stillness on the south coast.
To make that trip you need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, or ETA. In everyday speech it is the Sri Lanka visa, viza in Lithuanian, and it works as one for short visits. The application is completed online, the approval is tied to your passport number, and it should be settled before you set out for Vilnius airport.
On cost, Lithuania sits in the standard category. The waiver of the government charge that began on 25 May 2026 covers 40 countries and Lithuania is not one of them, so Lithuanian citizens pay the standard government rate together with our service fee. The live prices shown on this page show exactly what applies today.
At a glance
Eligibility
Lithuanian citizens do need an ETA, and being an EU citizen brings no exception. The requirement applies to every foreign national making a short visit. What varies between countries is only the government charge, and for Lithuania it is the ordinary one.
Choose the tourist ETA for a holiday, a visit to friends, a yoga course or Ayurveda treatment, or a sporting or cultural event. It permits nothing in the way of work. Lithuanians who freelance online should note that self-employment is listed among the activities a tourist ETA does not allow.
Company travel belongs under the business option: meetings and negotiations, conferences and seminars, and training lasting less than a month. Religious events and symposiums are placed in the same category, as are art, music and dance events.
A great many Lithuanians live abroad, particularly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Germany. Where you live has no bearing on the ETA. A Lithuanian citizen resident in London or Oslo applies as a Lithuanian and is charged accordingly, even though British and Norwegian citizens have their government charge waived.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA allows a Lithuanian citizen to remain for 30 days starting from first arrival. It is a double-entry authorisation, but the two entries draw on one 30-day period. Go to the Maldives for four nights in the middle and those nights are deducted like any others.
There is a six-month period after issue in which the ETA may be used for travel, and the conditions stated on the approval take priority over any general description. Applying in November for a trip in February or March is entirely workable.
Six months of passport validity, counted from the day of arrival, is the requirement. Lithuanian adults generally hold ten-year passports and children much shorter ones, so it is the youngest traveller's document that deserves the first look. If any passport is renewed after the ETA is issued, that traveller needs a new application.
Extending beyond 30 days is a matter for the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, just outside Colombo, and must be arranged while your original permission is still running.
Pricing
Live fees for Lithuanian 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 Lithuania
Requirements
Everything Lithuanian 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.
Lithuanian applicants commonly receive approval within a day or two, but it is not something anyone can promise. Apply three to five days ahead at a minimum. For departures between Christmas and early January, and around the February school break, earlier is wiser.
Lithuanians living abroad often renew passports through an embassy, which can take weeks. If yours is being renewed in London or Dublin, wait until the new one is physically in your hands before applying, because the ETA needs its number and nothing else will do.
No amendments are possible after payment. A wrong letter in a surname suffix means a second application and a second standard government charge, since the first is neither refundable nor transferable. A minute with the passport open beside the screen is well spent.
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
Lithuania has no nonstop air link with Sri Lanka. From Vilnius the most convenient routing is Turkish Airlines to Istanbul with a connection to Colombo. Other travellers go through Riga, Warsaw, Frankfurt or Helsinki to reach Doha or Dubai, which usually means two changes. Kaunas is served mainly by low-cost carriers on European routes, so passengers from there generally start in Vilnius, and those from Klaipėda sometimes find Riga just as convenient.
Best time to go
Lithuania's cold season and Sri Lanka's dry season on the south and west coasts overlap from December to March. This is when Lithuanians most often go, and with reason: steady sunshine in Unawatuna and Tangalle, clear walking weather in the hills above Ella, and whales off Mirissa until April.
School holidays give families a week in mid-February and another around Easter. The February week is excellent. Easter depends on the date: early April is still fine in the south-west, while mid-April brings both rising humidity and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year shutdown.
Summer at home, with Joninės and the long evenings on the Curonian Spit, keeps most Lithuanians from travelling far. Should you go between June and August, the good weather has moved to the east coast, where Trincomalee and Arugam Bay are dry. The autumn break around Vėlinės at the start of November meets inter-monsoon rain, so expect a mix.
The clocks differ by three and a half hours in winter and two and a half in summer. In May the Vesak full-moon festival fills towns with lanterns, a memorable time to visit if you do not mind the start of the south-west rains.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Lithuania — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Lithuanian surnames change form with gender and marital status. When one person fills in the application for the family, it is easy to type Petrauskas four times. A wife who is Petrauskienė and a daughter who is Petrauskaitė must appear exactly so, as their passports state.
After marriage or divorce a Lithuanian woman's surname often changes, and airline profiles, bank cards and old bookings may lag behind. The ETA has one reference point, the passport you will travel on. If the passport still shows the earlier name, use that.
Lithuanians settled in countries covered by the waiver sometimes expect to benefit from it. Residence permits and settled status are irrelevant to Sri Lanka's charge. Nationality as shown in the passport decides it, and a Lithuanian passport means the standard rate.
Entering the old passport's number because the replacement has not yet arrived produces an ETA for a document you will not be carrying. Wait for the new passport, then apply, even if it shortens your margin before the flight.
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 does not maintain an embassy in Vilnius, and Lithuania is handled from a regional mission, the closest resident Sri Lankan embassy being in Stockholm. For Lithuanian citizens seeking an ETA this is background only, as the application never passes through an embassy.
FAQs
The questions Lithuanian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Lithuanians need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before travel, which is the form a Sri Lanka visa takes for short visits. The tourist ETA gives 30 days with two entries and is registered to your Lithuanian passport number.
No. The waiver in effect since 25 May 2026 names 40 countries and Lithuania is not on the list. Lithuanian citizens pay the standard government charge and our service fee, except that children under 12 are not charged the government portion. The live prices shown on this page are current.
The rules for Lithuanian citizens. Sri Lanka looks at the nationality in your passport, not your address or immigration status in Britain. You apply as a Lithuanian national and pay the standard government rate.
No, provided each application entry reproduces the surname from that person's passport. Different endings within a Lithuanian family are correct and expected. Do not adjust one to match the other.
No. The identity card is not valid for travel outside Europe. A Lithuanian passport with at least six months of validity from your arrival date is required, and the ETA is issued against it.
Turkish Airlines via Istanbul is usually the most convenient, with a single change and a total journey of roughly 13 to 15 hours. Routings through Warsaw, Frankfurt, Riga or Helsinki to a Gulf hub involve two changes.
Thirty days from first arrival on a tourist ETA, with two entries allowed inside that period. To stay longer you need an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration before the 30 days run out.
Once flights are booked and no later than three to five days before departure. If you are waiting for a renewed passport, hold the application until it arrives, since the approval is bound to the number of the passport you travel on.
Your nationality is already set to Lithuania. 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.
