Myanmar passport holders need an approved ETA before travelling to Colombo from Yangon through Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. It allows 30 days and two entries, and Myanmar is charged 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
Important for Myanmar citizens
Myanmar is not on the list of 40 countries whose tourist ETA government charge is waived. Myanmar passports pay the standard rate; please refer to the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
Few countries are as closely tied to Sri Lanka through religion as Myanmar. In the eleventh century King Vijayabahu I asked King Anawrahta of Bagan to send monks to revive the ordination line on the island. Centuries later the favour was returned, when Sri Lankan monks travelled to Amarapura and Lower Burma and came home to found the Amarapura and Ramanna orders.
That history is why a journey to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy and the Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura ranks so high for Myanmar Buddhists, alongside Bodh Gaya itself. To make it, a Myanmar citizen needs an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the document many people simply call the Sri Lanka visa or e-visa.
Myanmar is outside the fee waiver, so the standard government rate applies. This guide concentrates on the points that most often trouble applicants from Myanmar: names without surnames, five-year passports, payment cards and the connecting flight.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Citizens of Myanmar need an ETA for any short visit to Sri Lanka, and it has to be approved before travel. No category of ordinary Myanmar passport is exempt.
Pilgrimage is a tourist purpose. A group led by a sayadaw to pay respects at Kandy, Anuradhapura, Mihintale and Kelaniya travels on tourist ETAs, and so do holidaymakers, people visiting friends and those seeking Ayurveda treatment.
The line is drawn at organised events and at work. Monks or lay scholars invited to a formal religious ceremony, conference or symposium apply under the business option, as do gem and commodity traders meeting counterparts in Colombo. Taking a job, paid or voluntary, is not allowed on either.
Many Myanmar citizens live and work in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, and they may apply from those countries. Their nationality, not their work permit, decides the conditions. Children are entered as travellers in their own right, and the Sri Lankan government does not charge its fee for a child under the age of 12.
Stay & validity
The tourist ETA entitles a Myanmar citizen to 30 days in Sri Lanka from first arrival and to two entries. Pilgrimage tours from Yangon tend to last six to nine days.
A number of groups combine Sri Lanka with the Indian holy places and pass through Colombo twice. That is what the double entry is for, but the 30 days are not renewed at the second arrival. Requests to stay beyond the endorsed date go to the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, outside Colombo.
The approval may be used within six months of issue. Passport validity needs particular attention in Myanmar's case. Ordinary passports last five years, renewal can be slow, and Sri Lanka requires six months remaining at arrival. A renewed passport brings a new number, and the ETA would have to be applied for again.
Pricing
Live fees for Myanmar 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 Myanmar
Requirements
Everything Myanmar 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 Myanmar applicants are approved within a day or two. That is the usual experience and not a guarantee. We advise applying three to five days before departure at the very least, and considerably earlier where a monastery or tour company is handling dozens of passports.
Thingyan in mid-April closes banks and offices across Myanmar for well over a week, the longest holiday of the year. Anything involving a payment or a passport office should be finished before it starts. The months from November to February, the main pilgrimage season, are also busy.
Myanmar time is exactly one hour ahead of Sri Lanka, the smallest difference of any South-East Asian country. Internet access at home may be unreliable, so save the approval to your phone and carry two printed copies, one for the transfer airport and one for the immigration officer.
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 are no nonstop flights between Yangon and Colombo at present. Pilgrims and tourists connect through Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, all of which are linked to Yangon several times a day. Travellers from Mandalay normally route through Bangkok.
Best time to go
The favoured months for Myanmar pilgrims, November to February, suit most of Sri Lanka well. From December the west, the south and the hills are dry. In November the Cultural Triangle can still see heavy showers, so groups going mainly to Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa often do better in January or February.
Thingyan and the Myanmar New Year coincide with the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Those who travel during the long break find Sri Lanka celebrating at the same moment, quietly and at home, with transport reduced for a few days. It is the hottest part of the year on both sides of the Bay of Bengal.
The full moon of Kason is Vesak in Sri Lanka. Where people in Myanmar pour water at the foot of the Bodhi tree, Sri Lankans hang lanterns and build illuminated pandals telling stories from the Buddha's life. The Esala Perahera in Kandy, in July or August, is the grandest occasion at the Temple of the Tooth.
Thadingyut in October and Tazaungdaing in November fall in the island's inter-monsoon period, with rain likely in the afternoons. Every full moon, known as Poya, is a public holiday and a day of observance, when temples are crowded with white-clad devotees and no alcohol is 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 Myanmar — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Myanmar names have no family-name element, and a form with a mandatory surname box tempts applicants to split the name arbitrarily or repeat part of it. Tell us instead. The fields can then be filled so that they agree with the passport's machine-readable line.
Titles of respect are used so constantly that they feel like part of the name, and they sometimes appear on tickets and hotel bookings. If the passport does not print the honorific within the name, it must not be in the application.
With a five-year passport, the final year arrives quickly. Pilgrims who have waited a long time for a place on a tour may discover that the booklet falls short of six months on the arrival date, and renewing it in time can be difficult. Check at the moment of booking.
An invitation to speak or take part in a formal religious event or symposium is not the same as a pilgrimage. Sri Lanka classes it with business purposes. Monks and lay delegates should choose the business option to avoid questions on arrival.
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 keeps an embassy in Yangon, a reflection of the long religious relationship between the two countries. It handles matters outside the online scheme. A Myanmar citizen applying for an ETA does not attend the embassy, and applicants in Mandalay or Naypyitaw have no need to travel to Yangon for it.
FAQs
The questions Myanmar passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Myanmar citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, generally known as the Sri Lanka visa, before travelling. As a tourist or pilgrim you may stay 30 days and enter twice. Myanmar passports are subject to the standard government rate.
Enter your name as printed in the passport and let us know that it has no family-name part. We complete the name fields to correspond with the machine-readable line. Do not add your father's name or an honorific to create a surname.
Yes. Pilgrimage to Kandy, Anuradhapura and other sacred sites is tourism for the purposes of the ETA. Each pilgrim, including monks and nuns, needs an individual authorisation linked to his or her own passport.
No nonstop service operates currently. The usual connections are in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and the journey takes about six to eight hours including the stop. Tour organisers generally book the Bangkok routing.
Thirty days from the day of first arrival. A second entry is allowed during that time, which helps groups returning from India, but it does not start a new period. Extensions are granted only by the immigration department in Sri Lanka.
Only if at least six months will remain on the day you arrive in Sri Lanka. A Myanmar passport with seven months left today would fall short for a pilgrimage more than a few weeks away. Renew the passport first and apply with the new number.
Yes. Location is not a factor; the application is online. You are assessed as a Myanmar national and charged accordingly. Make sure your permit for returning to your country of work is valid for re-entry.
It does not. The waiver covers 40 named countries and Myanmar is not among them. Children under 12 are not charged the government fee. For everyone else the amount appears in the live prices shown on this page.
Your nationality is already set to Myanmar. 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.
