Panamanians need an approved ETA before leaving Tocumen for Colombo. It provides a 30-day stay with two entries, is registered to your passport number, and is charged at 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
Overview
Panama lives by connections, and its travellers think in routes. Sri Lanka is one of the longer ones: ten and a half hours ahead, on the far side of two oceans, and reachable with a single change of aircraft in Istanbul. Panamanians who make the journey go for the beaches of the south coast, the tea country, the wildlife parks and the old fort at Galle, a walled colonial town that invites comparison with Casco Viejo.
A passport alone will not get you on the plane. Sri Lanka requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the ETA, which is what Panamanians find when they look up a visa para Sri Lanka or an e-visa. It is requested over the internet, registered to your passport number, and ought to be approved before you leave Tocumen.
Panama was not included when Sri Lanka waived the government charge on tourist ETAs for 40 countries on 25 May 2026. Panamanian passports are charged the standard rate, and our service fee for preparing the application is separate from that. Both figures sit in the live prices shown on this page for Panamanian applicants.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. All foreign nationals need an ETA for a short visit to Sri Lanka, and Panamanians are treated like everyone else in that respect. The requirement often surprises people who are accustomed to the Panamanian passport being accepted without formalities across Europe and Latin America.
Tourism in the ETA's sense is broad: holidays, sightseeing, visiting friends or relatives, medical treatment including Ayurveda and yoga, sporting events and cultural performances. It stops at anything commercial. Buying stock for a shop in the Colón Free Zone, meeting a shipping agent in Colombo or scouting suppliers are business activities, not tourism.
For those trips the business option exists, covering meetings and negotiations, conferences, workshops and seminars, and training of under a month. Journalism, political activity and NGO work stand apart again and require government approval before you go.
Each child is entered separately with the details of their own Panamanian passport. The government fee does not apply to children under 12 on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days.
Stay & validity
With a tourist ETA a Panamanian citizen can stay for 30 days and enter two times. There is one 30-day period, opened by the first arrival, and the second entry must fall within it. Arrive in early January, spend a week of the month in the Maldives, and your last permitted day is the same as if you had never left.
The authorisation can be used for travel at any point in the six months after it is issued, subject to whatever conditions the approval states. Applying in November for a trip during the school holidays in January or February poses no difficulty.
Panamanian passports are issued for a comparatively short term, so check the expiry date early: Sri Lanka requires six months of validity from the day you land. If you need to renew, do it at the Autoridad de Pasaportes before applying. The ETA is fixed to the passport number, and a new booklet brings a new number and a new application. Stays longer than 30 days need an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, a short drive from central Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for Panamanian 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 Panama
Requirements
Everything Panamanian 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.
A decision on a Panamanian application normally arrives within a day or two. Some applications are checked further and take more time, and no one can guarantee a date. Three to five days before departure is the minimum lead time we advise, extended for travel in January and February or around Carnaval.
Panama is ten and a half hours behind Sri Lanka all year, one hour closer than the rest of Central America. An application sent at nine in the evening from Panama City lands at half past seven the next morning in Colombo. That is convenient, yet any question in return will arrive during the Panamanian night, so allow a few days of slack.
Review before you pay, because that is the last chance to change anything. Errors found later can only be fixed by submitting a new application, and the government charge paid on the first is non-refundable and non-transferable.
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
Tocumen gives Panamanians the most direct access to Sri Lanka in the region. Turkish Airlines connects Panama City with Istanbul and Istanbul with Colombo, so the whole journey can be made on one ticket with a single change of aircraft, though some services touch down in another city along the way. Iberia and Air Europa to Madrid, KLM to Amsterdam and Air France to Paris offer alternatives with a second connection in Doha or Dubai. Routes via the United States require a US visa for Panamanian passport holders.
Best time to go
Panama's school year ends in December and resumes in March, so the family holiday season is January and February — the Panamanian verano. Those are also the driest, calmest weeks on the south and west coasts of Sri Lanka. Beaches from Bentota to Tangalle are in season, whales are passing Mirissa, and the tea estates around Nuwara Eliya are cool enough to need a jumper.
Carnaval offers a shorter window. The four days before Ash Wednesday, extended with a few days of leave, are enough for a compact trip to Colombo, Galle and a national park, and the weather on the south-west side remains reliable into March. Semana Santa works similarly, with mid-April's Sinhala and Tamil New Year to plan around if Easter is late.
November is crowded with Panamanian public holidays, and many people use the fiestas patrias to travel. In Sri Lanka it is inter-monsoon then, with rain possible anywhere, and the east coast is entering its wetter months. The Cultural Triangle — Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura — and Kandy cope with showers better than the beaches do.
From May to September the island's dry side is the east. Trincomalee and Pasikudah offer sheltered swimming and Arugam Bay attracts surfers from around the world, while the south-west has its monsoon. Vesak, at the May full moon, fills towns with lanterns, and like every Poya day it is a public holiday 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 Panama — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Panamanian visitors to Sri Lanka include a fair share of traders, shipping people and logistics staff. A tourist ETA does not cover meetings or negotiations, and stating tourism when the purpose is business breaches its conditions.
The cédula number, hyphens and all, goes on every document in Panama. It has no place on the ETA application, which needs the passport number. An authorisation issued against a cédula number cannot be matched to your passport in Colombo.
Because Panamanian passports do not last long, a booklet issued a few years ago may already be inside its final year. Six months must remain on the day you arrive, not on the day you book. Renew before applying, since the ETA cannot follow you to a new passport number.
Some Panamanian women use de plus a husband's surname socially but not in their passport, and some have it printed. The ETA has to reproduce the passport.
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
There is no Sri Lankan embassy in Panama City. The closest resident embassies are in Havana and Washington DC. Panamanians applying for a tourist ETA can ignore both, as nothing in the process requires a visit or a posted document.
FAQs
The questions Panamanian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Panamanians need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before they travel to Sri Lanka, and this online approval is what most people call a Sri Lanka visa. It is linked to your passport number and gives 30 days as a tourist with double entry.
Yes. Sri Lanka's waiver of 25 May 2026 covers 40 countries and Panama is not one of them, so the standard government rate applies. Panamanian children under 12 are not charged it on tourist ETAs.
There is no nonstop flight. The closest thing is Turkish Airlines from Panama City to Istanbul with a connection to Colombo, all on one ticket. Other routes go through Madrid, Amsterdam or Paris and then Doha or Dubai.
Typically one or two days, though some applications take longer and timing is never guaranteed. Apply at least three to five days before you fly, and earlier for the January and February holiday season.
No. Meetings, negotiations, conferences, seminars and short training courses fall under the business option. The tourist ETA is for holidays, family visits, medical treatment and sporting or cultural events, and it does not permit business or trade.
A Panamanian gets thirty days from first arrival on a tourist ETA. Two entries are permitted, both within those 30 days, and the second receives only the time remaining. An extension must be obtained from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla to stay longer.
Sri Lanka is ten and a half hours ahead of Panama throughout the year, as neither country changes its clocks. Midday in Panama City is half past ten at night in Colombo.
It becomes unusable. The ETA is tied to the number of the passport you applied with, and a renewed passport has a different number. You would need to submit a new application and pay the government charge again, so renew first if your passport is close to expiry.
Your nationality is already set to Panama. 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.
