Holders of a Monégasque passport need an ETA before travelling to Sri Lanka. It allows a 30-day stay and two entries at the standard government rate, while Monaco residents of other nationalities apply under their own 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
Important for Monégasque citizens
Monaco is not on Sri Lanka's waiver list. Monégasque passports are charged the standard government rate, while French, Italian and British residents of Monaco apply under their own nationality.
Overview
Monégasque nationals are one of the smallest groups of travellers Sri Lanka receives: the principality has only around ten thousand citizens, a minority even among its own residents. Yet the island fits the way many of them travel, with villas on the south coast, boutique hotels inside Galle Fort and tea-estate bungalows in the hills, all reachable in a day from Nice.
The entry requirement is simple. Citizens of Monaco must hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the document usually referred to as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, before they arrive. It is applied for online and tied to the passport number, and there is no consulate to visit.
Monaco is not one of the 40 countries whose tourists have been spared the Sri Lankan government charge since May 2026, whereas France, Italy and the United Kingdom, the nationalities of many Monaco residents, are. A Monégasque passport is therefore processed at the standard rate. Much of the confusion we see comes from the difference between living in Monaco and being a citizen of it, so this page addresses both situations.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. A Monégasque passport offers no exemption, and neither does the principality's close relationship with France. Whether you are spending a weekend in Colombo on the way to the Maldives or three weeks touring the island, an approved ETA is required first.
Citizenship, not address, determines how you apply. The great majority of people living in Monaco are French, Italian, British or of another nationality, and each applies under the passport they hold; a Monaco carte de séjour is a residence document and has no standing with Sri Lankan immigration. Only holders of a Monégasque passport apply as nationals of Monaco.
A tourist ETA covers leisure travel, visits to friends, wellness and Ayurveda stays, and attendance at sporting or cultural events. Meetings with business partners, negotiations, conferences and seminars belong under the business option. Working in Sri Lanka, running a business there or residing through repeated visits is not allowed on a tourist ETA.
Children travel on their own passports and must be named in the application. Sri Lanka does not charge its government fee for under-12s on a tourist stay of up to 30 days, which applies to Monégasque children as to any others. Each traveller in a party, of whatever nationality, needs an individual authorisation matched to their own passport.
Stay & validity
On a tourist ETA a Monégasque visitor may remain 30 days from the first arrival and enter twice. This suits the common pairing of Sri Lanka with the Maldives: fly into Colombo, tour, spend a week on an atoll, and return for a last few days, all within the same 30-day span. The second entry carries only the remaining days.
The authorisation is valid for travel for six months from the date of issue, so it can be arranged well before a winter departure. Read the approval when it arrives, since its printed conditions are the ones that bind.
Sri Lanka insists on six months of passport validity from arrival. Check the expiry date in your Monégasque passport before you apply, and if a renewal is due, complete it first. The replacement will have a new number, and an ETA granted on the previous passport cannot be reused.
Stays longer than 30 days, for example a winter spent in a rented villa, require an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla outside Colombo. It has to be requested while the original 30 days are still current.
Pricing
Live fees for Monégasque 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 Monaco
Requirements
Everything Monégasque 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.
ETAs for Monégasque passport holders are generally approved in a day or two. The country's small size makes no difference to the process, which is automated, though no approval time can be guaranteed.
We suggest applying three to five days before you fly at the latest. Check-in staff at Nice will verify the ETA before accepting you for a flight that connects to Colombo, and arriving at the terminal without one means missing the departure, not sorting it out at the desk.
The winter months are both Sri Lanka's high season and the period when Monaco residents most often travel long-haul, between the National Day in November and the run-up to the Grand Prix in spring. For Christmas, New Year and the February school break, apply a fortnight ahead.
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
Monaco has a heliport but no airport, and international journeys start at Nice Côte d'Azur, roughly half an hour away by road or a few minutes by helicopter shuttle. Nice has no nonstop flight to Sri Lanka, but it does have direct services to Dubai, Doha and Istanbul, each with onward connections to Colombo. A change in Paris is the other common routing.
Best time to go
The Riviera winter is mild, but it is not beach weather, and December to March is when Sri Lanka's south and west coasts are at their driest and sunniest. This is the season for Galle, Tangalle and the villas around Weligama, for whale watching off Mirissa and for the cool, clear mornings of the tea country.
Monaco's schools keep a calendar close to that of the neighbouring French academy of Nice, with two weeks in February, two in spring, and the long summer break in July and August. The February holiday is ideal for the south-west coast. The spring break may overlap with the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April, a festive period when many businesses close.
Summer brings the monsoon to the south-west and dry weather to the east. If you travel in July or August, choose Trincomalee or Pasikudah for the sea and Arugam Bay for surf, and consider Kandy during the Esala Perahera. Many Monaco residents prefer to stay on the Mediterranean in those months and save Sri Lanka for winter, which is a sound instinct.
The All Saints holiday at the end of October falls in the inter-monsoon weeks, when rain is likely somewhere on most days. Plan cultural visits and safaris in Yala or Wilpattu instead of relying on the beach. Sri Lanka is four and a half hours ahead of Monaco in winter and three and a half in summer, and full-moon Poya days are public holidays on which 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 Monaco — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Living in Monaco does not make you a national of Monaco, and the application asks for nationality. A French or Italian resident who selects Monaco will receive an ETA that does not correspond to the passport presented. Choose the country that issued your passport.
Monaco's ties with France are so close that citizens sometimes expect French arrangements to apply automatically. The Sri Lankan waiver names France but not Monaco. A Monégasque passport is charged at the standard rate, as the live prices shown on this page reflect.
Applications prepared by an assistant, a concierge or a family office are common in the principality and perfectly acceptable, but they are often completed from an old scan. If the passport has been renewed since, the number will be wrong. Work from the current passport and have the traveller confirm the details.
A few Monégasques hold a second passport, French or Italian for instance. Whichever is used for the ETA must be used for the flight booking, at check-in in Nice and at the immigration desk in Colombo, including on a second entry after the Maldives. Switching partway leaves the system with no authorisation to find.
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 no embassy or consulate in the principality, and Monaco is handled from Sri Lankan missions abroad, the nearest embassy being the one in Paris. ETA applicants do not need to approach it, because the authorisation is requested online and issued electronically. Its role is limited to matters such as residence visas and approvals that fall outside the ETA system.
FAQs
The questions Monégasque passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, citizens of Monaco need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), the online entry permission widely known as a Sri Lanka visa, before they travel. It allows a tourist stay of 30 days and two entries. Monaco is not included in Sri Lanka's fee waiver, so the standard government charge applies.
No. Apply as a French citizen with your French passport. Your Monaco residence card is not relevant to Sri Lanka, and French passports are covered by the waiver of the government charge that took effect on 25 May 2026.
It is not. The waiver covers 40 named countries and Monaco is absent from the list. The exception is children under 12, who are not charged the government fee for a tourist stay of up to 30 days. See the live prices shown on this page for the current total.
Travel to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport by road or helicopter, then fly via Dubai, Doha, Istanbul or Paris to Colombo. The journey from Nice takes around 13 to 15 hours. There is no nonstop service from the Riviera.
Up to 30 days from the first arrival on a tourist ETA. A second entry is permitted within those 30 days, which is convenient for adding the Maldives. For a longer stay you must obtain an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla.
Yes, another person can complete the application for you, provided the information is accurate and taken from your current passport. You remain responsible for what is declared. Make sure the approval email reaches you as well, so you can show it when checking in.
Yes. The tourist ETA permits two entries to Sri Lanka, so you can leave for the Maldives and come back. Both arrivals must take place within 30 days of the first, and the second entry gives you only the days left over. The Maldives has its own entry rules, which are separate from the ETA.
Yes, counted from the day you arrive in Sri Lanka. If your passport will fall short, renew it before applying, because the ETA is attached to the passport number and a new passport means a new application.
Your nationality is already set to Monaco. 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.
