Seychellois passport holders now need an approved ETA before the short flight from Mahé to Colombo. It gives 30 days and two entries, and Sri Lanka takes no government charge from Seychelles under a reciprocal arrangement.
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 Seychellois citizens
Seychelles has a reciprocal arrangement with Sri Lanka, so no government charge is taken on a Seychellois tourist ETA. The authorisation itself is still required before you fly, and our service fee is in the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
Few countries are as closely tied to Sri Lanka as Seychelles is for its size. Colombo is roughly four hours from Mahé, Sri Lankan teachers, doctors and tradespeople have worked in Victoria for decades, and many Seychellois families know the city's hospitals, colleges and shopping streets at first hand.
That familiarity is why the paperwork catches people out. Seychellois travellers were long used to turning up in Colombo with nothing arranged in advance, and the reciprocal arrangement between the two governments still means Sri Lanka takes no government charge from them. What has changed is that an Electronic Travel Authorisation must now be approved before departure. Searchers often call it a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and it is the same thing.
This page sets out what the ETA gives a Seychellois passport holder, how the reciprocal treatment works in practice, and the handful of details, from accented Creole names to the timing of a medical trip, that are worth getting right before you leave Mahé.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. A Seychellois citizen needs an approved ETA for a short visit to Sri Lanka, and it has to be in place before boarding at Seychelles International Airport. The reciprocal arrangement removes the government charge, not the requirement, so the habit of travelling on a passport alone no longer works.
The tourist ETA fits the reasons most Seychellois actually go. Holidays and sightseeing are covered, and so is staying with friends or relatives, which matters for the many mixed Seychellois and Sri Lankan households. Medical treatment, including Ayurveda, is a permitted purpose too, so patients heading for consultations or surgery in Colombo, and the relatives accompanying them, apply as tourists.
Trade is a different matter. Shopkeepers from Victoria who fly over to meet suppliers, negotiate orders or attend a trade fair are on business, and need the business option when choosing the ETA type. Employment of any kind is outside the tourist ETA, and media work, political activity or NGO assignments require approval from the Sri Lankan government beforehand.
Children travelling from Seychelles must each be entered in the application with their own passport. With no government charge taken from Seychellois of any age, the under-12 rule makes little practical difference to a family from Praslin or La Digue, but leaving a child off the form is still a reason to be stopped at check-in.
Stay & validity
A Seychellois tourist ETA allows a stay of 30 days and two entries. The count begins on the day you first clear immigration at Colombo, and a second arrival is only good for what remains. Someone who spends ten days in Sri Lanka, hops to Malé or Chennai for a week and returns will be admitted for the balance of the month, not for a new one.
After approval you have six months in which to make that first arrival, which suits patients whose hospital dates move, and the wording on the approval itself is what governs. Your Seychelles passport needs six months of validity left on the day you land, so check the expiry date before fixing an appointment or a flight.
Longer treatment or a slow recovery can outlast 30 days. In that case an extension must be sought from the Department of Immigration and Emigration at Battaramulla, just outside Colombo, before the date stamped in your passport passes.
Pricing
Live fees for Seychellois 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 Seychelles
Requirements
Everything Seychellois 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.
Seychellois applications are usually decided within a day or two. Before submitting we compare what you typed with the passport image, which is where a dropped letter in a long Creole surname tends to be caught. No turnaround can be promised, and the reciprocal status does not make the decision any faster.
Give yourself three to five days before departure as a minimum. Sri Lanka is an hour and a half ahead of Seychelles all year, so the two working days overlap almost completely and an application sent on a weekday morning from Victoria is seen the same day in Colombo. The risk lies in the flight pattern: with only a few direct departures a week, missing one because of paperwork can cost several days.
Apply earlier still in December and January, when Seychelles schools are closed and Sri Lanka's west coast is at its 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
Seychelles is one of the few African states with a direct air link to Sri Lanka. Air Seychelles flies between Mahé and Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport a few times a week, with seats also sold under SriLankan Airlines flight numbers, and the crossing takes a little over four hours. Residents of Praslin and La Digue need to allow for the inter-island flight or ferry to Mahé first.
Best time to go
Seychellois visitors do not go to Sri Lanka for warmth or beaches, since they have both at home, and that changes what a good season means. The appeal is variety: cool tea country at Nuwara Eliya, elephants and leopards at Yala, the rock fortress at Sigiriya and a capital with far more shops and specialists than Victoria can offer.
The long school break in December and January coincides with dry weather on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and in the hills. It is also the north-west monsoon at home, when Mahé is hot, humid and rainy, so swapping it for clear days in Ella or Galle Fort makes sense.
The August holidays fall in the south-east trade wind season in Seychelles and in the south-west monsoon on the Colombo side of Sri Lanka. Families travelling then should head for Trincomalee and Pasikudah on the east coast, or time the trip around the Kandy Esala Perahera.
Two calendar points deserve a note. Mid-April brings the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, when clinics run reduced lists and many businesses close for several days. Poya, the monthly full-moon holiday, shuts government offices and stops alcohol sales, so avoid scheduling paperwork or a celebration dinner on that date.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Seychelles — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
The most common Seychellois problem is not an error on the form but the absence of one. Travellers who remember walking through Colombo with only a passport arrive at the Mahé check-in desk without an authorisation and cannot board.
Names like Hoareau, Payet-Lespérance or Désirée are easy to mistype, and applicants sometimes enter the spelling they use day to day instead of the one printed in the passport. Copy the photo page letter by letter, leave out the accents.
Sourcing garments, spare parts or building materials in Colombo for a business in Seychelles is trade, even if you also spend a weekend in Kandy. Selecting the tourist option for a visit built around supplier meetings puts you outside the conditions of the ETA.
A procedure booked for a week can turn into six weeks of follow-up. Patients and escorts who let the stamped date slip past while still in hospital create an overstay. Ask the hospital's international desk about an extension as soon as the doctors revise the plan.
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 keeps a resident High Commission in Victoria. You do not need to visit it for an ETA, hand in your passport or book an appointment, as the application is completed online. Its staff deal with matters beyond the ETA, such as longer-term visas and activities needing clearance from Colombo.
FAQs
The questions Seychellois passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Seychellois citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online approval that many people refer to as a Sri Lanka visa. It must be granted before you leave Seychelles and allows a tourist stay of 30 days with two entries. Under the reciprocal arrangement between the two countries, Sri Lanka takes no government charge.
There is no government charge on a Seychellois tourist ETA, because of the reciprocal arrangement with Sri Lanka. That is not quite the same as paying nothing, as a service fee applies for our help in preparing and checking the application. The current amount is in the live prices shown on this page.
No. Seychelles nationals now have to hold an approved ETA as well as a valid passport. The arrangement that once spared Seychellois any formalities survives only as an exemption from the government charge, so apply before you go to the airport.
Yes, medical treatment is one of the purposes a tourist ETA covers, and Ayurveda and yoga programmes are included. The person accompanying a patient applies in the same way. If doctors keep you beyond 30 days, an extension has to be requested in Battaramulla before your permitted stay ends.
Thirty days from the date of first arrival, with two entries allowed inside that period. Leaving for the Maldives or India and coming back does not restart the clock.
Air Seychelles operates nonstop flights between Mahé and Colombo on certain days, with SriLankan Airlines selling seats on them as a codeshare. The journey lasts a little over four hours. Schedules shift between seasons, so confirm the operating days before fixing hospital or hotel dates.
Every child needs to be included in an application with their own passport details, whatever their age. No government charge is taken for them, as is the case for Seychellois adults.
Buying trips, supplier meetings and trade negotiations are business purposes, so choose the business option and not the tourist one. A tourist ETA is limited to holidays, family visits, medical treatment and sporting or cultural events.
Your nationality is already set to Seychelles. 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.
