From Lima to Colombo is a journey of two connections and more than a day, so arrive with the paperwork settled. Peruvian passport holders need an ETA approved in advance, valid for a 30-day tourist stay with double entry.
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
Peru and Sri Lanka share more than either country's travellers might guess: ancient cities reclaimed from forest, a serious surf culture, and food built on chilli, lime and fresh fish. Peruvians who make the trip are usually well-travelled already, and often add the island to a longer route through India, Thailand or the Maldives.
The entry formality is the same for all of them. A Peruvian passport must be accompanied by an Electronic Travel Authorisation, obtained online before the journey begins. Some sites describe it as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa; whichever name you meet, the ETA is the document Sri Lankan immigration looks for.
Because Lima has no carrier flying towards the Gulf, the trip itself takes planning, and a mistake in the paperwork is expensive to discover at a transfer desk in Madrid or São Paulo. The sections below cover who needs what, how to complete the form with Peruvian names, and when to go.
At a glance
Eligibility
An ETA is required of Peruvian citizens for every short visit, tourism included. Peru was not one of the forty countries given a waiver of the government charge from 25 May 2026. A Peruvian tourist application is therefore charged at the standard government rate, alongside our service fee.
A sizeable number of Peruvians hold a second passport — Spanish and Italian most often, sometimes one from the United States. Those three nationalities are covered by the waiver. Whether you benefit depends entirely on the passport used for the application and the journey, and you cannot switch between them once the ETA is issued.
The tourist ETA takes in sightseeing, staying with friends, wellness programmes such as Ayurveda, and joining sporting events — a surf contest at Arugam Bay would qualify. Peruvian chefs, traders or academics travelling for meetings, workshops or conferences need the business option. Reporting and NGO work require government approval that the online ETA cannot give.
Younger travellers benefit from one concession. Sri Lanka does not charge its government fee for a child under 12 on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days. The child must still be entered on an application, with a passport and not just a DNI de menor.
Stay & validity
On a tourist ETA a Peruvian may remain for 30 days and may enter twice. Both entries have to happen inside the 30 days that start with the first. People who break the stay with a few days in South India should plan around the balance, because that is all the second entry provides.
The ETA can be used for a first arrival up to six months after issue. Given how far ahead Peruvians tend to book intercontinental flights, that makes early application practical. The approval notice states the conditions that bind you, and it overrides any general summary.
Check the expiry date of your pasaporte electrónico with care. Peruvian passports have been issued for different terms over the years, and Sri Lanka insists on six months of validity at the time of arrival. An extension of stay, if you need one, is a matter for the Department of Immigration and Emigration at its Battaramulla head office.
Pricing
Live fees for Peruvian 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 Peru
Requirements
Everything Peruvian 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 Peruvian application is usually answered within a day or two. The safe habit is to apply no later than three to five days before you leave Lima, and earlier still for travel in the January-to-March summer or around Fiestas Patrias.
Peru keeps the same time all year, ten and a half hours behind Sri Lanka. An application sent before bed in Lima arrives mid-morning in Colombo. One sent at breakfast arrives late in the Sri Lankan evening and may wait until the following day.
Journeys from Peru involve at least two connections, and airline staff at the first one will check that you hold what the final destination demands. Being refused boarding in Lima over a missing ETA forfeits the whole chain of flights. Have the approval saved offline and printed before you go to Jorge Chávez.
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
Peru has no nonstop or one-stop service to Sri Lanka on a single airline. The usual pattern is a transatlantic flight from Lima to a European hub and then a Gulf carrier to Colombo, or a hop to São Paulo to join Emirates or Qatar Airways. Travellers from Cusco, Arequipa or Trujillo connect through Lima first.
Best time to go
Peru's school summer runs from January into March, which is high season on Sri Lanka's south and west coasts. It is the right time for Bentota, Galle and Mirissa, for whale watching, and for the cool tea-growing hills that will remind an Arequipeño of home less than a limeño might hope.
Fiestas Patrias at the end of July brings the mid-year break and suits the east coast. Peruvian surfers who know the long left at Chicama will want to see Arugam Bay's right-hand point, which works from May to September. Inland, Kandy holds the Esala Perahera around the same weeks.
Peruvians are accustomed to Inca stonework at altitude; Sri Lanka's ancient capitals sit in hot lowland plains. Sigiriya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa are best visited at dawn. Carry water, and expect temple etiquette — covered shoulders and knees, shoes off — to be enforced politely but firmly.
Avoid building a tight schedule around Vesak in May or the mid-April New Year unless the festivals are the point of your trip. Transport is crowded and many businesses close. Monthly Poya days are quieter public holidays on which 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 Peru — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Travel agents and relatives often complete forms on a traveller's behalf, and names like Quispe, Huamán, Ccori or Higa are misspelled more often than Spanish ones. Check the review screen against the passport yourself, letter by letter, before any payment is made.
The DNI is the number Peruvians give for everything from banking to voting. It has no place on this form. The ETA must carry the passport number, and a paid application with the wrong one cannot be amended.
With a thirty-hour itinerary it is tempting to sort the ETA during a layover. If the approval has not arrived when you reach the gate for the Colombo leg, you will be stuck in a transit airport far from home.
The 30 days include the day you arrive, and they keep running if you leave and return. Travellers who cross the date line of a long journey sometimes lose track. Look at the date stamped in your passport and count from that.
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 Lima that we can confirm; Peru falls under a regional mission, and the embassy in Brasília is the closest. Since the ETA is granted online, Peruvian tourists can ignore the geography entirely.
FAQs
The questions Peruvian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Peruvian citizens must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation before travelling, which is the permit commonly referred to as the Sri Lanka visa. The tourist ETA allows a stay of 30 days with two entries and is charged at the standard government rate.
No. Expect two connections: typically Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris or São Paulo first, then Doha, Dubai or Istanbul. Allow generous transfer times, because a missed second connection can add a day.
If you apply and travel on the Spanish passport, yes — Spain is among the countries for which the government charge on a tourist ETA is waived. On your Peruvian passport the standard rate applies. A service fee is payable either way.
No. The DNI works as a travel document only in certain neighbouring countries. For Sri Lanka you need a passport with at least six months of validity on arrival, plus the ETA linked to it.
Most are approved in one or two days, though no timeframe is guaranteed. Apply three to five days ahead as a minimum and earlier in the peak months of January, February and late July.
Yes. Participating in sporting events and competitions is a permitted tourist purpose. Working as a paid coach, judge or photographer at the same event would be employment and is not covered.
You apply for an extension through the Department of Immigration and Emigration, based in Battaramulla near Colombo, before your permitted stay ends. Leaving and re-entering does not give a Peruvian a new 30 days.
Yes, a baby needs to be included in an application and must have a passport. No government fee is charged for children under 12 on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days.
Your nationality is already set to Peru. 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.
