Sudanese passport holders can apply for a Sri Lanka ETA online from Sudan, Egypt, the Gulf or anywhere else they live. The tourist ETA allows a 30-day stay and two entries, with the standard government rate applying to Sudanese passports.
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 Sudanese citizens
Sudanese passports are not included in Sri Lanka's waiver of the tourist ETA government charge and are processed at the standard rate. Please refer to the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
A great many Sudanese passport holders now live outside Sudan, in Cairo, Jeddah, Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and further afield, and it is from those cities that most Sudanese journeys to Sri Lanka begin. Some are holidays, some are visits to relatives studying or working on the island, and some are short breaks taken by Gulf-based professionals for whom Colombo is a four- or five-hour flight.
Wherever you start, Sri Lanka requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation. It is the document people have in mind when they search for a Sri Lanka visa for Sudanese, and it is requested online, so it does not matter that there is no Sri Lankan embassy in Khartoum or Port Sudan. The approval is emailed to you and held electronically against your passport.
Sudan is outside the 40-country waiver of the government charge introduced in May 2026, which means the standard rate applies to a Sudanese passport regardless of your country of residence. This page concentrates on what Sudanese applicants need to get right: the long name with no family surname, passport renewals handled through consulates abroad, payment, and realistic routes.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Sudanese citizens must hold an approved ETA before travelling to Sri Lanka for a short stay. Living in a country whose own nationals benefit from the waiver, such as Saudi Arabia, the Emirates or Qatar, does not change the requirement or the rate for a Sudanese passport.
A tourist ETA is appropriate for a holiday, for visiting family or friends, for medical treatment and Ayurveda, for yoga, and for attending sports or cultural events. Sudanese businesspeople travelling for commercial meetings, or academics and doctors invited to a conference or seminar, should apply under the business option.
The tourist ETA excludes work of every kind, paid or voluntary, and self-employment. Journalism, political activity and NGO or humanitarian work need the Sri Lankan government's approval beforehand and cannot be arranged online.
Each child travels on an entry of their own in the application. Sri Lanka does not charge its government fee for a tourist ETA of up to 30 days when the child is under 12. Check that a child's Sudanese passport, and not only the parents', meets the six-month validity rule.
Stay & validity
The stay granted to a Sudanese tourist is 30 days from the date of first arrival, and the ETA can be used for two entries during that time. If you leave Sri Lanka partway through and return, you are admitted for the remaining days only.
You have six months from the date of approval to make your first entry. For Sudanese residents of the Gulf who fix leave dates late, that makes it sensible to obtain the ETA once annual leave is likely and choose flights afterwards.
The passport needs six months of validity beyond your arrival date. Sudanese passports are frequently renewed through embassies and consulates abroad, and waiting times vary a good deal, so do not apply on a passport that is about to be replaced: the new one will have a different number, and the ETA will not transfer. A stay longer than 30 days requires an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, outside Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for Sudanese 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 Sudan
Requirements
Everything Sudanese 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.
Sudanese applications are generally approved in one to two days. Our check before submission is aimed at the things that most often go wrong on a Sudanese form, namely the order of the names and a passport number carried over from an expired booklet. Processing time is never guaranteed.
Apply at least three to five days before you travel. Sudan is three and a half hours behind Sri Lanka throughout the year. If you are applying from the Gulf the gap is smaller, at an hour and a half from Dubai and two and a half from Riyadh or Doha, but the same margin of days is still advisable.
Allow longer before the two Eids and during the summer school holidays in the Gulf, when Sudanese families based there travel in large numbers. If your passport renewal is pending at a consulate, wait for the new booklet.
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
There are no direct flights between Sudan and Sri Lanka. Travellers leaving Sudan itself currently do so mainly through Port Sudan, flying first to Cairo, Jeddah or a Gulf city and connecting there for Bandaranaike International Airport near Colombo. Services from Sudan change often, so confirm what is operating before you plan. For Sudanese residents of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Qatar the trip is a single connection or, from the Gulf hubs, one nonstop flight.
Best time to go
December to March is the most comfortable time on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and in the hills. For Sudanese travellers it lines up with the cooler part of the year at home and with the winter break taken by many families in the Gulf. Beaches such as Bentota and Unawatuna are calm, and Nuwara Eliya is cool enough to need a jacket in the evening.
Summer holidays, when schools in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are closed and the heat in Khartoum and Riyadh is at its fiercest, fall in Sri Lanka's south-west monsoon. Plan for the east coast in those months. Trincomalee and Pasikudah are dry from May to September, and even with humidity the temperatures are well below a Sudanese summer.
The rain itself is part of the attraction for visitors from a dry country. Waterfalls in the hill country are fullest just after the monsoon, the tea slopes are an intense green, and national parks such as Yala and Wilpattu hold leopards, elephants and birdlife.
October and November are in-between months with showers that come and go. They suit a tour of Kandy and the Cultural Triangle. Bear in mind the monthly Poya public holidays, and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April, when Sri Lankans travel home and services slow down.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Sudan — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Sudanese names are a chain of given names running back through the father's line, with no family name in the Western sense. Forms that demand a surname cause confusion. Follow the passport: use the split shown on the data page, or the machine-readable lines, and keep all the names.
People who have renewed abroad often keep both booklets, and old details linger in saved forms and airline profiles. An ETA issued on the cancelled number does not match the passport you present. Read the number from the current passport each time.
Saudi, Emirati, Qatari, Kuwaiti, Bahraini and Omani citizens have their government charge waived. Sudanese residents of those countries do not, because the rule looks at the passport and not the residence permit. Budget on the basis of the standard rate.
International online payments are frequently unavailable on cards issued inside Sudan. Applicants find this out at the payment step, after completing every field. Make sure you have a card that works internationally before you start.
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 has no embassy in Sudan, and the country is covered by the Sri Lankan embassy in Cairo. Sudanese applicants for an ETA do not need to approach it, wherever they are living, because the authorisation is issued online.
FAQs
The questions Sudanese passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Sudanese citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for Sri Lanka, often called a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa. It is obtained online before travel and gives a tourist stay of 30 days with two entries. The standard government rate applies to Sudanese passports.
Yes. You can apply online from any country. Your application is assessed on your Sudanese nationality, so the standard rate applies even though Saudi and Emirati citizens are covered by the waiver. Carry your residence permit for the return journey.
Copy the names from your passport's data page in the same order and spelling. Where a surname field is required, use the name the passport shows as the surname, usually the last one, and put the others as given names.
A tourist ETA allows 30 days from first arrival, with a second entry possible inside that period. To stay longer, an extension must be requested from the Department of Immigration and Emigration before the permitted stay ends.
No. Sudan is covered from the Sri Lankan embassy in Cairo. For a tourist visit you do not need an embassy at all, as the ETA is applied for and issued online.
There are no direct flights. Departures from Sudan are mainly through Port Sudan to Cairo, Jeddah or the Gulf, followed by a connection to Colombo. Sudanese residents of Dubai or Doha can fly nonstop in about four to five hours.
Most are approved within a day or two, but we advise applying three to five days before travel at the latest and sooner before Eid. An exact time cannot be promised for any application.
Yes, each child must be included in the application with their own passport details. No Sri Lankan government fee is taken for under-12s on a tourist stay of 30 days or less.
Your nationality is already set to Sudan. 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.
