Travelling from Kathmandu to Colombo on a Nepali passport means getting an ETA approved first. It covers 30 days with two entries, and Nepal is one of the 40 countries excused the government charge on tourist ETAs.
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 Nepali citizens
Nepal is included in Sri Lanka's waiver of the tourist ETA government charge, in force since 25 May 2026. Nepali travellers must still hold an approved ETA, and our service fee applies; see the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
For people from a landlocked Himalayan country, an island ringed by warm sea has an obvious appeal. Nepalis also arrive with deeper reasons. The Buddha was born at Lumbini, and Sri Lanka guards his tooth relic at Kandy and a cutting of the Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura, so the journey south is a pilgrimage for many Nepali Buddhists.
Hindu travellers have their own thread to follow. Sita, by tradition a princess of Janakpur, is said to have been held at what is now Seetha Eliya near Nuwara Eliya, and Ramayana trail tours sell well in Kathmandu. Add cricket, with Nepal's team having played an Asia Cup match at Pallekele in 2023, and the island feels closer than the map suggests.
All of these trips start with an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the document Kathmandu agencies tend to advertise as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa. Since May 2026 Nepalis have not paid Colombo's own charge on a tourist ETA, though they still have to obtain one. This guide covers the conditions, the documents and the mistakes peculiar to Nepali applications.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes, without exception. Nepal and Sri Lanka are both SAARC members, but a Nepali citizen cannot simply turn up as they might at an Indian land border. An approved ETA has to be in place before you check in at Tribhuvan International Airport.
The tourist version suits the typical Nepali itinerary: temple visits in Kandy and Anuradhapura, a Ramayana circuit, a beach week at Bentota, time with friends who work or study on the island, or a course of Ayurvedic treatment.
Meetings with Sri Lankan partners, trade fairs, seminars and training programmes shorter than a month belong under the business option, which also takes in religious conferences and symposiums as opposed to private pilgrimage. Pick that category if a monastery, an NGO or your employer in Nepal is sending you for an organised event.
The authorisation is not a route to a job. Employment of any kind, paid or voluntary, is excluded, and Nepalis heading abroad for work should not treat it as a stepping stone. Journalism, political activity and non-governmental work need permission from the Sri Lankan authorities beforehand and sit outside the online system.
Stay & validity
A Nepali tourist is granted 30 days counted from first arrival, with two entries allowed in that time. Some travellers from Kathmandu combine Sri Lanka with the Maldives; if you come back through Colombo afterwards, you are admitted for the unused part of the 30 days and nothing more.
The approval stays usable for a first entry for six months after it is issued. You could therefore apply before Dashain for a trip during the winter school holidays.
Six months of passport validity from the arrival date is required. Nepali e-passports issued to adults run for ten years, but plenty of older machine-readable booklets are close to expiry, and anyone replacing one receives a different number. Wait for the new e-passport from the Department of Passports before you apply.
Staying beyond 30 days, for instance to complete a long meditation retreat, is possible only with an extension granted by the Department of Immigration and Emigration at Battaramulla near Colombo, requested while your current permission is still running.
Pricing
Live fees for Nepali 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 Nepal
Requirements
Everything Nepali 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 Nepali passports normally come through in one or two days. Our team reads each form against the passport image before it goes forward, looking in particular for calendar slips in the date of birth. Timings are typical, not promised, so do not book a non-refundable fare on the assumption of a same-day answer.
Three to five days before your flight is a sensible minimum. Nepal is fifteen minutes ahead of Sri Lanka, one of the smallest time differences anywhere, so there is no overnight lag to worry about, but Saturday is the weekly holiday in Nepal and banks may not help with a card problem then.
Leave more room around Dashain and Tihar, when half of Kathmandu seems to be travelling, and from December to February, when Sri Lanka's beaches are at their busiest.
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
Most Nepalis reach Colombo with one change of aircraft. Delhi is the nearest hub, with frequent flights from Kathmandu and several daily departures on to Colombo, though you should check with the airline whether your tickets allow a through connection. Kuala Lumpur, Doha, Dubai and Bangkok are the usual alternatives. SriLankan Airlines has operated a direct Kathmandu service on certain days, so look at the current timetable before settling for a connection.
Best time to go
Kathmandu winters are dry but cold, and school holidays there usually fall between late December and mid-January. That is exactly when the south-west of Sri Lanka is at its sunniest. Bentota, Unawatuna and Mirissa are calm, whale-watching boats are running, and the climb to Sigiriya is far more comfortable than it would be in April.
Two dates on the Nepali calendar have twins on the island. Baisakh 1, the Nepali New Year, falls in mid-April alongside the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, so expect closed shops and crowded trains then. Buddha Jayanti shares its full moon with Vesak, when Colombo and Kandy are hung with lanterns and free food stalls line the roads, a memorable time for pilgrims from Lumbini or Boudha.
Dashain and Tihar, in September to November, are when Nepalis have the longest leave, but they overlap with the inter-monsoon showers. The Cultural Triangle and the hill country still work well in those weeks. If your heart is set on swimming, the east coast around Trincomalee stays pleasant into early October.
Nepal's own monsoon, from June to September, matches the wet season on Sri Lanka's south-west side. Travellers at that time should aim for Pasikudah or Arugam Bay in the east, or time a visit for the Kandy Esala Perahera in July or August, when the tooth relic casket is paraded by torchlight.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Nepal — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Nepalis think of their birthday in BS, and the citizenship certificate records it that way. The passport, however, carries the AD equivalent, and that is the only date the Sri Lankan system recognises. A year typed as 2050 instead of 1993 will not match your passport at all.
Since Nepal introduced e-passports, many people have a cancelled booklet at home with visas still inside it. Applicants sometimes copy that number from a saved form or an old ticket. The authorisation must match the e-passport you will carry.
Ordinary Nepali debit cards are restricted to rupee payments inside Nepal and India. International online payments need a dollar card or a facility your bank has specifically enabled, and limits can be low. Check this days ahead, because an application abandoned at the payment screen has not been submitted.
Some Nepalis are offered hotel or restaurant jobs in Sri Lanka and are told by brokers to travel on a tourist ETA first. That breaks its conditions and can end with refusal at the border or removal later.
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's embassy in Kathmandu handles consular matters for Nepal. A Nepali applying for an ETA does not have to go there, leave a passport or sit an interview, because the authorisation is requested and delivered electronically. Contact the embassy only for things the ETA cannot cover, such as residence visas or permissions that need advance approval from Colombo.
FAQs
The questions Nepali passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Nepali citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before travelling, which is what is commonly meant by a Sri Lanka visa. The tourist ETA permits a 30-day stay with two entries. Nepal is among the 40 countries for which Sri Lanka waives its government charge.
Sri Lanka has not charged its government fee on tourist ETAs for Nepalese passports since 25 May 2026. Applying through us still involves a service fee for checking and submitting the application. The amount is displayed in the live prices shown on this page.
Yes. You complete the form online from Kathmandu, Pokhara or anywhere else with an internet connection, and the approval is emailed to you. There is no need to submit your passport to the embassy in Kathmandu for a short visit.
Always the AD date exactly as it appears on your passport. The Bikram Sambat date from your citizenship certificate should not be used anywhere on the application, and converting it yourself risks being a day out.
Up to 30 days from the date of first arrival. Two entries are allowed within that period, with the second entry receiving only the balance. Longer stays require an extension from the immigration department near Colombo.
Yes. Personal pilgrimage and sightseeing at the Temple of the Tooth, Sri Maha Bodhi and other sacred sites count as tourism. If you are attending an organised religious conference or symposium, the business option is the appropriate one.
No. Paid and unpaid employment and self-employment are all prohibited on a tourist ETA. Nepalis who have a job offer in Sri Lanka need a different type of visa arranged in advance, not a visit authorisation.
They do need one and must be listed with their own passport details. No government charge is made for children under 12 on a tourist stay of up to 30 days, in line with the waiver that now covers Nepali adults too.
Your nationality is already set to Nepal. 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.
