Honiara to Colombo is a two-connection journey across the Coral Sea and South-East Asia. Solomon Islands passport holders should have an ETA approved before starting it, for a stay of 30 days with two entries.
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
Very few Solomon Islanders travel to Sri Lanka in any given year, and those who do rarely go as ordinary holidaymakers. They are Commonwealth delegates, fisheries and health officials on regional programmes, seafarers joining or leaving ships, students breaking a journey to South Asia, and members of church and youth groups.
That is a pity, because the two countries share more than membership of the Commonwealth. Both are tropical islands that live with the sea, both grow coconuts and catch tuna, and a Solomon Islander will recognise the outrigger fishing boats pulled up on the sand at Negombo. Sri Lanka simply adds mountains of tea, ancient stone cities and elephants.
This page is written for the small number of travellers who need a straight answer. Solomon Islands citizens must hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation to enter Sri Lanka, which is what an online search for a Sri Lanka visa will lead to. It is approved electronically and matched to the passport number.
At a glance
Eligibility
An ETA is required for Solomon Islands citizens on any short visit. Solomon Islands is not included in the waiver that removed the government charge for 40 nationalities on 25 May 2026, so the standard government rate is payable together with our service fee. The live prices shown on this page give the amounts that apply.
The type of ETA depends on why you are going. A delegate to a Commonwealth meeting, a regional fisheries workshop or a training course shorter than a month should apply under the business option. A person going for sightseeing, to see friends, to watch or take part in a sports competition, or for medical care uses the tourist ETA.
Seafarers deserve a specific mention, since Colombo is one of the busiest ports in the Indian Ocean and Solomon Islands crews do pass through. Signing on to a vessel is a working purpose, and your shipping agent should arrange the correct permission. Do not assume a tourist ETA covers it.
A short stop between flights is another matter. Where Colombo is purely a connection of up to two days, the transit option applies, with no government charge and a requirement to show your onward ticket. Under-12s travelling with family are not charged the government fee on a tourist ETA but must be listed.
Stay & validity
Thirty days is the stay granted on a tourist ETA for a Solomon Islands passport, starting from the first day in Sri Lanka. The authorisation covers two entries. If you leave for a meeting in India and return, you resume the same 30-day period where it stands, with no additional days added.
You may make your first arrival at any time within six months of the approval date. Flights from Honiara are not daily on every route and get rescheduled, so that flexibility is useful. Always read the approval notice, whose conditions decide the matter.
Check your passport well before booking. Sri Lanka needs six months of validity from arrival, and passports are issued centrally in Honiara, which can be slow for applicants in Western, Malaita or Temotu provinces. An ETA granted on a passport that is later replaced does not carry over to the new number.
Pricing
Live fees for Solomon Islands 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 Solomon Islands
Requirements
Everything Solomon Islands 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.
Solomon Islands applicants usually have a decision in a day or two. Send the application at least three to five days before leaving Honiara, and sooner when an organisation is booking for several delegates, because one person's missing detail should not be discovered at the airport.
Honiara runs five and a half hours ahead of Colombo. By the time offices open in Sri Lanka it is already early afternoon in Solomon Islands, so an application submitted in the morning is typically in the queue the same day. Nothing is promised on timing.
Mobile data is the normal way online for many Solomon Islanders, and coverage outside Honiara is patchy. Complete the form where the signal is steady, keep a screenshot of the confirmation, and download the approval so you can show it without a connection in Brisbane or Singapore.
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
Sri Lanka cannot be reached from Solomon Islands without changing planes at least twice. The standard pattern is Honiara to Brisbane, Brisbane to Singapore and Singapore to Colombo. A northern alternative goes through Port Moresby, where Air Niugini links Honiara with its Singapore service. Passengers from Gizo, Munda or Auki need a domestic hop to Honiara first.
Best time to go
Solomon Islands is warm and humid all year, with the heaviest rain and the cyclone risk between November and April. Those same months are the dry season on Sri Lanka's southern and western shores. If your travel dates are your own to choose, December to March gives the best weather for Colombo, Galle and the hill country.
Delegates rarely get to choose. Conferences in Colombo are held all year, and a meeting between May and September will coincide with the south-west monsoon. Colombo carries on regardless, but expect heavy afternoon rain. A free weekend is better spent inland at Sigiriya or Dambulla than on a west coast beach.
A trip around the Independence Day holiday on 7 July lands in the east coast season. Trincomalee's harbour, one of the world's great natural anchorages, will interest anyone raised near Iron Bottom Sound, and the water off Pasikudah is shallow and still at that time of year.
Bring something warm if the programme includes Kandy or Nuwara Eliya. Evenings in the hills are cool enough to surprise a visitor from Guadalcanal. On Poya days, the monthly full-moon holidays, alcohol is not sold and some offices close.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Solomon Islands — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
When a ministry or regional body books travel, each delegate often assumes someone else has dealt with the ETA. Confirm in writing who is applying, and ask to see your own approval before you leave for Henderson airport.
Conferences, workshops and seminars are business purposes. A Solomon Islands official who arrives with an invitation letter and a tourist ETA has the wrong authorisation for the visit described.
The common routing passes through Brisbane, and Australia sets its own requirements for Solomon Islands passport holders in transit. A Sri Lankan ETA does not help with that leg.
Many Solomon Islanders are known by a baptismal or custom name that differs from the passport. The form must follow the passport exactly, even if nobody at home uses that version.
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
Honiara has no Sri Lankan mission. Solomon Islands falls under the High Commission in Canberra, which you would approach only for matters outside the ETA, such as seafarer or employment arrangements. The ETA application never passes through it.
FAQs
The questions Solomon Islands passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Solomon Islands citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, generally known as a Sri Lanka visa, approved before they travel. For a tourist from Honiara that means 30 days and two entries.
Apply online with your passport details, travel date and an address in Sri Lanka. The approval arrives by email. You do not send your passport anywhere, which is important given that the responsible mission is in Canberra.
No. Solomon Islands is not one of the 40 countries covered by the waiver, and the standard government rate applies. Children under 12 are not charged the government fee on a tourist ETA.
No. Conferences, workshops, seminars and training of under a month are business purposes, so select the business option. Your invitation letter should match what you put on the application.
Honiara to Brisbane, then Singapore, then Colombo is the routing most agents book. Going via Port Moresby with Air Niugini can be just as quick when the schedules line up. Either way, expect about a full day of travel.
Once, yes. The tourist ETA allows two entries, both inside the 30 days that begin with your first arrival. On the second arrival you are given the time still remaining.
Joining a ship is employment and is not covered by a tourist ETA. Your shipping company or its agent in Colombo should arrange the appropriate permission for crew before you fly.
Six months, measured from the day you arrive. If your passport is close to that limit, renew it in Honiara first and then apply, because the ETA is bound to the passport number you enter.
Your nationality is already set to Solomon Islands. 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.
