Sierra Leonean passport holders need an ETA approved before they fly to Sri Lanka. The tourist option allows 30 days and two entries, and the English-language application can be completed from Freetown without visiting any office.
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
Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka are both small, English-using Commonwealth countries with long beaches, a history of British rule and names that outsiders occasionally confuse. The similarities end there. One faces the Atlantic, the other sits in the Indian Ocean off the tip of India, and getting from Freetown to Colombo means crossing two continents.
Sierra Leoneans who make that journey need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they go. The ETA is widely referred to as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and for a short stay it is the only entry document required. It exists as an electronic record tied to your passport number, with a confirmation sent by email.
Because the application is in English, Sierra Leonean applicants avoid the language difficulties their francophone neighbours face. The pitfalls here are different: long compound names, a tight passport validity rule, and an airport at Lungi that is separated from the capital by an estuary. Each is covered below.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Commonwealth membership brings no exemption, and Sierra Leonean citizens need an ETA like all other foreign nationals visiting Sri Lanka for a short period. It should be approved before you leave Freetown.
As for the charge, Sierra Leone is in the standard band. Sri Lanka removed its government charge on tourist ETAs for forty countries on 25 May 2026, but Sierra Leone was not included, and neither the reciprocal nor the SAARC category applies. The live prices shown on this page set out what a Sierra Leonean applicant pays, including our service fee.
Sierra Leonean children under twelve travel on a tourist ETA of up to thirty days without the government fee being charged. That helps families, though each child still needs to be named in the application with details from their own passport.
What you plan to do determines which ETA to request. Beach holidays, touring, staying with friends, Ayurveda and yoga retreats, and sports tournaments are all tourist purposes. A Sierra Leonean attending a Commonwealth workshop, a church or interfaith symposium, a trade meeting or a training course of under a month should apply for the business option.
Stay & validity
A Sierra Leonean visitor on a tourist ETA may stay for 30 days and enter twice. The second entry is not a second month. The 30 days are fixed from the date of first arrival, and whatever has been used before a side trip is deducted when you come back.
The authorisation is valid for travel for six months from the day it is issued, and its printed conditions are final. Sierra Leoneans booking complicated itineraries through Accra, Casablanca or Istanbul can therefore apply as soon as plans are firm instead of waiting until the last week.
Sri Lanka's rule that a passport must be valid for six months beyond arrival catches out many travellers. Check the expiry date in your Sierra Leone e-passport now. If you need to renew at the immigration office in Freetown, do that first, because the ETA is bound to a single passport number and a new booklet means a new application.
Stays beyond the 30 days require an extension from Sri Lanka's Department of Immigration and Emigration, whose head office is at Battaramulla, a suburb east of Colombo. Sierra Leonean nationals who overstay without one are in breach of their conditions.
Pricing
Live fees for Sierra Leonean 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 Sierra Leone
Requirements
Everything Sierra Leonean 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.
Sierra Leonean applications are usually approved within a day or two. Treat that as a guide and not a promise. A referral for manual checking can add time, and it is most often caused by a name or passport number that does not agree with the uploaded page.
From Freetown, apply three to five days before departure at the very least. Travellers from Sierra Leone flying in the December to March season, which is high season on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts, should allow more.
Freetown runs on Greenwich Mean Time with no clock changes, putting Sri Lanka five and a half hours ahead. Leaving for the airport is itself half a day's undertaking, since Lungi lies across the Sierra Leone River and is reached by sea coach, ferry or a long road loop. Have the ETA approved and printed before you set out for the terminal.
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
Sierra Leone has no nonstop flights to Sri Lanka, and all journeys start with the crossing from Freetown to Freetown International Airport at Lungi. From there, travellers generally connect through Istanbul, Casablanca or Accra. The Accra option is useful because Emirates flies from Ghana to Dubai, with onward flights to Colombo. Carriers serving Lungi change their schedules regularly, so check before booking.
Best time to go
Sierra Leone's dry season, from November to April, is also the dry season on the west and south coasts of Sri Lanka. If you travel then, perhaps around Christmas or the Independence Day holiday on 27 April, base yourself between Colombo and Galle or in the hills around Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Ella.
From May to October Freetown receives some of the heaviest rainfall in West Africa, peaking in July and August. Sierra Leoneans travelling in those months, including during the long school holiday, will find Sri Lanka's east coast dry: Trincomalee, Pasikudah and the surf point at Arugam Bay are in season, while Colombo and the south are showery.
Anyone who loves the beaches of the Freetown Peninsula, from Lumley to River Number Two and Tokeh, will find Sri Lanka's coast familiar in spirit but busier, with whale-watching boats leaving Mirissa between November and April. Inland, the rock fortress of Sigiriya and the cave temples of Dambulla have no real equivalent at home.
Sri Lanka's festival calendar is worth a glance before you fix dates. Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April closes much of the country for a few days, Vesak lights up the towns at the May full moon, and the Kandy Esala Perahera fills July or August. On each monthly Poya day alcohol is not sold, which surprises visitors from Sierra Leone.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Sierra Leone — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
A Sierra Leonean passport might read Mohamed Alpha Sorie Kamara while the holder goes by Mohamed Kamara. The ETA must carry the full sequence of names from the passport, in the same order.
The check is made against your arrival date in Sri Lanka. A Sierra Leone passport expiring five months after you land will be refused at check-in in Lungi even with an approved ETA.
Many Sierra Leoneans hold a second passport from the United Kingdom or the United States, both of which are on the waiver list for the government charge. An ETA issued on the Sierra Leonean passport cannot be used with the other one, or the reverse.
Mobile data on the estuary crossing and at the terminal is unreliable. Sierra Leonean travellers who save or print the approval in Freetown avoid a search for signal at the check-in desk.
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
No Sri Lankan High Commission operates in Freetown; Sierra Leone is covered from Nairobi. Sierra Leonean applicants for an ETA do not attend, post documents to or book appointments with that office, since approval is issued online. It handles matters beyond the ETA.
FAQs
The questions Sierra Leonean passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Sierra Leonean citizens must hold an approved Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before travelling to Sri Lanka for a short visit. It is what is commonly called a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and it is applied for online.
No. Sri Lanka applies the ETA requirement to every foreign nationality, and Commonwealth membership makes no difference to that or to the charge. Sierra Leone is charged the standard government rate.
A tourist ETA allows 30 days from your first arrival and two entries within that time. If you need longer, an extension must be requested from the immigration department at Battaramulla.
Yes, every child needs to be included. For Sierra Leonean children under twelve the government fee on a tourist ETA of up to thirty days is not charged, but their passport details are still required.
There are several workable routes and none is nonstop. From Sierra Leone the common choices are Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, a regional flight to Accra followed by Emirates via Dubai, or Royal Air Maroc via Casablanca and Doha.
No. The Sri Lanka High Commission in Nairobi is accredited to Sierra Leone. You do not need to deal with it to obtain an ETA.
Short-term training of under a month is classed as a business purpose, so a Sierra Leonean trainee should apply for the business option. A tourist ETA is for leisure, family visits, medical treatment and cultural or sporting events.
Follow the machine-readable zone, the two lines of capital letters at the bottom of the data page. Hyphens are not printed there, so a surname such as Cole-Bangura appears as two words, and that is the version to enter.
Your nationality is already set to Sierra Leone. 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.
