Kiwis need an approved ETA before flying to Colombo, even though Sri Lanka now waives its government charge on tourist applications from New Zealand. Thirty days, two entries, arranged online before you leave Auckland or Christchurch.
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 New Zealand citizens
Since 25 May 2026 Sri Lanka has waived its government charge on tourist ETAs for New Zealand passport holders. The ETA itself remains compulsory and must be approved before you fly.
Overview
For most New Zealanders Sri Lanka sits in an awkward but appealing spot on the map: too far for a long weekend, yet almost exactly on the line between Auckland and Europe. That makes it a natural stopover on the way to or from a London OE, and a destination in its own right for Kiwis who have already done Bali.
Cricket does a lot of the introducing. Black Caps tours have taken New Zealand supporters to Galle and Colombo for decades. Add a Sri Lankan community of several thousand families in Auckland and Wellington, and the island is better known in New Zealand than its distance suggests.
Whatever takes you there, a New Zealand passport on its own is not enough at check-in. Sri Lanka asks every foreign visitor to hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation, which many Kiwis search for as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa. It is arranged online, recorded against your passport number and checked by the airline before you board the Colombo sector.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. New Zealand citizens need an ETA for any short visit, and it should be approved before departure rather than left to chance. New Zealand is not exempt from the requirement itself. What changed on 25 May 2026 is that New Zealand joined a list of 40 countries whose citizens are not charged Sri Lanka's government fee for a tourist ETA.
That waiver is worth understanding properly, because Kiwi travel forums tend to shorten it to a claim that Sri Lanka no longer needs a visa. The authorisation is still mandatory. Only the government's own charge has gone, and a service fee for our help with the application still applies, so look at the live prices shown on this page rather than assuming the total is nil.
The tourist option covers what most New Zealanders go for: beaches, tea country, safari, a Test match, staying with relatives or an Ayurveda retreat. If your trip is a trade visit, a conference or meetings for a dairy, education or technology exporter, choose the business option instead, because a tourist ETA does not stretch to commercial activity.
Kiwis breaking a long-haul journey in Colombo for a night or two can use the transit option, which allows up to two days and needs proof of your onward flight. Freelancing from a beach town or filming for a media outlet is not available through the online ETA at all.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA gives New Zealand citizens 30 days in Sri Lanka, counted from the day you first arrive. It allows two entries, which suits the classic Kiwi itinerary of a fortnight on the island with a few nights in the Maldives in the middle. The second arrival does not restart the clock, though. You get whatever is left of the original 30 days.
Once issued, the approval can be used for a first arrival at any point in the following six months. Apply too early for a trip next summer, though, and the approval will have lapsed before you leave. The conditions printed on your own approval always take precedence.
Your passport must have six months left on the day you land at Katunayake. Adult New Zealand passports now run for ten years, but children's passports still last only five, and it is usually a child's document that turns out to be short when a family checks the night before. Renewing after approval means applying again, since the ETA follows the old passport number. Staying past a month needs an extension from the immigration department in Battaramulla, near Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for New Zealand 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 New Zealand
Requirements
Everything New Zealand 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 applications from New Zealand passport holders are approved within a day or two. We suggest applying three to five days before you leave home, and that means before you leave New Zealand, not before the Colombo leg. Many Kiwis reach Sri Lanka after a week in Singapore or Australia, and paperwork is easier from your own desk.
Remember the clocks when you are waiting for an email. New Zealand is six and a half hours ahead of Sri Lanka in winter and seven and a half during daylight saving, so the working day in Colombo only starts in the middle of a New Zealand afternoon.
Apply earlier for travel between mid-December and late January. The long summer school break is when New Zealand families travel furthest, and it coincides exactly with Sri Lanka's busiest season on the south and west coasts. Approval times are never promised, and a fortnight's margin over Christmas costs nothing.
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 service between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, so every itinerary involves at least one change. Singapore is the most common pivot from Auckland and Christchurch, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai are the main alternatives, and crossing the Tasman to pick up SriLankan Airlines' own flights from Melbourne or Sydney works well for travellers starting in Wellington, Queenstown or Dunedin.
Best time to go
The New Zealand summer holidays line up neatly with the best weather on Sri Lanka's south and west coasts. From December to March the sea is calm at Mirissa and Unawatuna, whales are passing offshore and the hill country is dry. The catch is that Kiwi families share the beaches with half of northern Europe.
The July school break points the other way. While the south-west is under monsoon cloud, the east coast around Trincomalee, Pasikudah and Arugam Bay is in season, with reliable surf at Arugam that New Zealand surfers rate highly. Leaving a wet Wellington winter for warm water is a strong argument.
The late September holidays are a shoulder option. September still works on the east coast, while October brings inter-monsoon showers across much of the island, heavy but usually brief. Kandy's Esala Perahera falls in July or August and is worth building a winter trip around.
Flying west is the kinder direction for jet lag. You sleep early and wake at dawn for a couple of days, which suits safari starts at Yala. The return leg is the hard one, so avoid landing in Auckland the morning you are due back at work.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from New Zealand — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
A large share of New Zealanders hold a second passport, most often British, Irish or Australian. The ETA attaches to the number you enter, so applying with the New Zealand passport and then handing a British one to the airline leaves you with no valid authorisation for that journey.
Headlines about Sri Lanka dropping its fee led some travellers to skip the application altogether. Airlines at Auckland and at transit points still look for an approved ETA before issuing a boarding pass for Colombo.
Westbound itineraries from New Zealand that leave late in the evening often land in Colombo on the next calendar day. Take the arrival date from the final sector of your ticket, not from the day you leave home.
Kiwis who fly Colombo to Malé and back have used both entries. A third arrival, for example after an unplanned hop to Chennai, needs a new ETA, and the 30 days have been running the whole time.
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
New Zealand has had its own Sri Lankan High Commission in Wellington only in recent years. You do not need to contact it or post your passport for an ETA. It handles consular matters and travel purposes the online system does not cover.
FAQs
The questions New Zealand passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
New Zealand citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online permission most people call a Sri Lanka visa, for any short visit. It should be approved before you fly. The tourist version gives Kiwis 30 days and two entries.
The government charge on a tourist ETA has been waived for New Zealand passport holders since 25 May 2026. A service fee for our assistance still applies, so rely on the live prices shown on this page.
Thirty days from the date of first arrival. You may enter twice within that period, but a second entry only receives the unused balance. Staying longer needs an extension from the immigration department in Battaramulla.
Yes. The application is tied to your passport, not to where you live, so a New Zealand citizen settled in Sydney or Perth applies the same way and receives the same waiver.
Either works, since both nationalities are in the waiver, but choose one and use it for everything: the application, the airline booking and the immigration desk in Colombo. Pick whichever has more than six months left when you arrive.
Yes, every child must be included in an application with their own passport details. Check each expiry date carefully, because New Zealand children's passports last five years and often fall inside the six-month limit sooner than parents expect.
Watching cricket as a spectator is ordinary tourism and fits the tourist ETA. Reporting on or broadcasting the series as media needs advance clearance from the Sri Lankan authorities, which the online ETA cannot provide.
Three to five days before leaving New Zealand is a sensible minimum, and two weeks for travel over Christmas and January.
Your nationality is already set to New Zealand. 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.
