Citizens of Sao Tome and Principe need an ETA before travelling to Sri Lanka. This page explains the 30-day stay, the passport details to check, and how to plan the long journey from the Gulf of Guinea to Colombo.
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
Sao Tome and Principe and Sri Lanka are both islands that plantations made famous, one for cocoa and coffee, the other for tea and cinnamon. Anyone who has walked through an old roça, with its hospital, drying sheds and manager's house, will recognise the layout of a Ceylon tea estate at once, although the crop grows a thousand metres higher and the mornings are cold.
To see it, a Sao Tomean traveller first needs an Electronic Travel Authorisation. It is the document Portuguese-language searches call a "visto para o Sri Lanka" or e-visa. You request it online before leaving, it is stored against your passport number, and the airline will look for it when you check in for the first flight out of Sao Tome.
Very few Sao Tomeans make this trip each year: some officials, students, seafarers and emigrants living in Portugal or Angola. With no Sri Lankan representation anywhere in the Gulf of Guinea islands, an application handled entirely over the internet is the one part of the journey that requires no travel at all.
At a glance
Eligibility
Sao Tomean citizens do need an ETA. Sri Lanka applies the requirement to every foreign visitor, and a passport from Sao Tome and Principe is treated at the standard government rate, since the country is neither on the waiver list nor party to a reciprocal arrangement. What a Sao Tomean applicant pays today is in the live prices shown on this page.
Choose the tourist option if you are coming to travel around, rest on the coast, visit someone you know, follow a yoga or Ayurveda programme, or watch or join a sporting event.
Government and cooperation trips are common among the Sao Tomeans who do travel to Asia. A delegation attending a workshop, a seminar on fisheries or agriculture, or training shorter than a month should use the business option. Journalism, political activity and NGO work cannot be arranged through the online ETA and need prior approval from the Sri Lankan government.
Seafarers and others passing through have a further choice. If Sri Lanka is only a brief stop between flights, a transit ETA allows up to two days with no government charge, on condition that you hold documentary proof of onward travel. For a real visit, even a short one, the tourist ETA is the correct document.
Stay & validity
Thirty days is what a Sao Tomean passport receives on a tourist ETA, running from the first day in the country. Two entries are possible. If you leave for India or the Maldives part-way through and come back, the days continue from where they stopped, and the second stay ends on the original thirtieth day.
The ETA can be used for travel during the six months following its issue. Given that flights from Sao Tome operate on only certain days of the week and are booked far ahead, it is reasonable to obtain the authorisation as soon as dates are fixed. The approval document's own wording governs if there is any doubt.
Your passport must be valid for six months beyond the arrival date. Passports are issued in Sao Tome city, and residents of Principe or emigrants abroad may need extra time to renew. Do not apply with a passport you are about to replace: the ETA will not transfer, and the government charge is not refundable.
Pricing
Live fees for Sao Tomean 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 Sao Tome and Principe
Requirements
Everything Sao Tomean 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.
Applications from Sao Tomean passport holders are normally settled within one or two days, though the timing is never guaranteed. Allow three to five days at the very least.
Internet access on Sao Tome and especially on Principe can be slow or drop during storms. Prepare the passport image in advance, complete the form in a single session and wait for the on-screen confirmation before closing the page.
Once the approval arrives, print it. Staff at the airport in Sao Tome handle few passengers bound for Sri Lanka and may want to read the document carefully before checking you through. A paper copy, along with the email saved on your phone, keeps that conversation short.
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
Sao Tome's airport has a small number of international services, so reaching Sri Lanka takes two or three flights. The best-known route is TAP Air Portugal or STP Airways to Lisbon, followed by Emirates through Dubai or Qatar Airways through Doha. Travellers can also head first to Luanda or Libreville on regional flights and join a long-haul service from there.
Best time to go
On Sao Tome the dry season, the gravana, lasts from June to September, and the rest of the year is wet to varying degrees. Sri Lanka's pattern differs by coast, so the first decision is which shore you want, and the second is whether you prefer to leave home in the rains or in the gravana.
Leave during the wettest months at home, from December to March, and you arrive in Sri Lanka's best season for the south and west. The beaches near Galle, the whale-watching boats at Mirissa and the tea country around Nuwara Eliya and Ella are all at their finest, and visitor numbers are high.
Travel in the gravana, when schools on the islands are on their long break, and the east of Sri Lanka is the sunny side. Trincomalee and Pasikudah offer calm seas, and the Kandy Esala Perahera in July or August is the grandest festival of the year.
Sri Lanka keeps its clocks five and a half hours ahead of Sao Tome, with no seasonal change in either country. The heat and humidity of Colombo will feel like home to anyone from the equator, but pack a jacket for the highlands.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Sao Tome and Principe — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Online forms file Sao Tome and Principe in different places and spell it with or without accents. Applicants who cannot see it have been known to choose another Portuguese-speaking country instead. Scroll through the S entries slowly and select your true nationality; a wrong one invalidates the application.
Surnames made of two words are widespread on the islands, and forms that expect a single family name tempt people to put the first word under given names. Keep the surname whole and in the order shown in the passport's machine-readable lines, without accents.
When the line fails during payment it is natural to start again immediately. If the first attempt did go through, you now have two applications and two government charges, neither refundable. Look for a confirmation email and check the card account before you resubmit anything.
Because trips from Sao Tome are planned so far ahead, some travellers apply early and then renew a passport that is nearing expiry. The ETA remains tied to the old number and is useless with the new booklet. Renew first, then apply.
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 mission on Sao Tome or Principe, and an ETA does not involve one: no interview, no posted passport. If you have a question about a longer stay or another visa type, write to a resident Sri Lankan embassy such as the one in Paris and ask which office is responsible for Sao Tomean citizens.
FAQs
The questions Sao Tomean passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Citizens of Sao Tome and Principe need an ETA, the electronic authorisation commonly referred to as a Sri Lanka visa, approved before they travel. The tourist ETA gives a 30-day stay with two entries, and the standard government charge applies to this passport.
By completing the online application with your passport details, arrival date and first address in Sri Lanka, then paying by card. It can be done from Sao Tome, from Principe or from abroad. No embassy visit is required at any stage.
No. The waiver covers forty named countries and Sao Tome and Principe is not among them. Adults are charged the standard government rate, while children under twelve are not charged the government fee for a tourist ETA of up to 30 days. Children must still be included in an application.
It is valid for travel for six months from issue, and the stay it grants is 30 days counted from first arrival. Both permitted entries must fall within those 30 days. A longer stay needs an extension requested at the immigration department in Battaramulla while your permission is still valid.
Most people fly to Lisbon, change for Dubai or Doha, and change again for Colombo. Routes through Luanda or Libreville exist too.
Yes, if the stop lasts no more than two days and you can show proof of onward travel. The transit ETA carries no government charge. Sao Tomeans who want to explore for longer should apply for the tourist ETA instead.
Yes, exactly as the passport gives it and without accents. Include every given name and every surname, keep two-word surnames such as Espírito Santo together, and follow the order in the machine-readable lines at the foot of the photo page.
No. Seminars, workshops, conferences and training of under a month come under the business option. The tourist ETA is for leisure, family visits, treatment and similar purposes, and using it for official or commercial meetings is outside its conditions.
Your nationality is already set to Sao Tome and Principe. 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.
