Travelling from Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar or Kilimanjaro, Tanzanian passport holders must hold an approved ETA before departure. It grants a 30-day stay with two entries, charged at Sri Lanka's standard government rate for adults.
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 Tanzanian citizens
Tanzanian passports are charged the standard government rate for a tourist ETA, as Tanzania is outside the 40-country waiver. Current totals appear in the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
Tanzanians know the Indian Ocean from its western shore, and Sri Lanka sits on the same water some five thousand kilometres to the east. Zanzibar's spice farms grow the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom that also define Sri Lankan cooking, and the dhow trade once connected both coasts. Today the journey is made by air through the Gulf.
Few Tanzanians visit Sri Lanka compared with Dubai, India or China, so practical information tends to be scattered. What every Tanzanian traveller must have is an Electronic Travel Authorisation, obtained online before leaving home. People frequently describe it as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and whichever word you use, it is the document the airline will look for.
Those who do go are usually drawn by something Tanzania does not offer in the same form: ancient Buddhist cities, Ayurvedic treatment centres, tea-country trains, or a surf season that runs opposite to the kaskazi and kusi winds at home. The sections below explain the rules for Tanzanian passports, the routes from Julius Nyerere International, and the form errors worth avoiding.
At a glance
Eligibility
A Tanzanian passport does not allow entry to Sri Lanka without prior authorisation. The ETA has to be approved before you fly, and staff at Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar or Kilimanjaro will ask to see it when you check in for the first leg of the journey.
Sri Lanka removed its government charge for 40 nationalities in May 2026, but Tanzania was not included. Adult Tanzanian applicants are therefore charged the standard government rate, and our service fee for handling the application is added to it. This page shows live prices, which are more dependable than amounts repeated by travel agents in Kariakoo.
Holidaymakers, people visiting relatives or friends, patients booked into an Ayurveda clinic and spectators at sporting or cultural events all fit the tourist ETA. Tanzanian traders sourcing goods, delegates at a seminar and anyone attending negotiations should take the business option, since trade activity is outside tourist conditions.
Young travellers are not exempt from the paperwork. Each Tanzanian child needs to appear in the application with their own passport details, although no government fee is charged for those under 12 on a tourist visit of up to 30 days.
Stay & validity
The stay allowed is 30 days, starting on the date a Tanzanian visitor first passes through immigration. Two entries are permitted. If you leave for India or the Maldives and come back, the second entry is admitted only for the days still unused from the original 30.
There is a separate window for using the approval. From the date of issue, a Tanzanian traveller has six months in which to make the first arrival, so applying well ahead of a Saba Saba or December trip causes no problem. The wording on your own approval notice is what finally governs.
Passport validity is checked strictly. A Tanzanian passport must run for at least six months past your landing date, and the current electronic passport is the safest document to travel on. Should you renew between applying and flying, the ETA does not transfer and a fresh application is required.
Pricing
Live fees for Tanzanian 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 Tanzania
Requirements
Everything Tanzanian 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.
Approval for a Tanzanian application generally arrives within one or two days. It is not instant, and occasional requests for a clearer passport image can extend the wait. Allow a minimum of three to five days between submitting and your flight out of Dar es Salaam.
Tanzanian school closures in June and again in December are the busiest times for family travel. The December break lands in Sri Lanka's own peak season on the western and southern beaches, so volumes are higher at both ends. Submitting a fortnight or more before departure avoids last-minute worry.
Sri Lanka runs two and a half hours ahead of East Africa Time all year. Tanzanians who count the day in Swahili time, starting from sunrise, should take extra care with flight times and arrival dates on the form, because overnight Gulf connections often land in Colombo on the following calendar day.
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
Tanzania has no direct air link with Sri Lanka. The usual pattern is one stop in the Gulf: Emirates and flydubai through Dubai, or Qatar Airways through Doha, both of which serve Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. Air Tanzania's Mumbai service offers an Indian alternative, with a short connecting flight onward to Colombo.
Best time to go
From December to March the south and west of Sri Lanka enjoy their driest weather, matching the hot season on the Tanzanian coast. This is the time for Galle Fort, the beaches at Unawatuna and Bentota, and the cooler hills around Nuwara Eliya and Ella, where temperatures feel closer to Lushoto than to Dar.
Tanzania's long rains, the masika of March to May, push many people to travel. Early April still works for the southern beaches, though the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in the middle of the month closes shops and fills buses. After that the monsoon reaches Colombo and attention shifts east.
June to September is the kiangazi dry season at home and the best period for Sri Lanka's east coast. Trincomalee and Pasikudah have calm, clear water then, and Arugam Bay draws surfers from around the world. Tanzanians travelling over the June school holiday or Nane Nane should plan around that side of the island.
Muslim travellers from Zanzibar and the coast will find mosques and halal food easy to locate in Colombo, Kandy and the eastern towns. Poya, the monthly full-moon holiday, sees alcohol sales suspended and some attractions busier with local pilgrims, so check the calendar when fixing dates.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Tanzania — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Tanzanian passports commonly show a personal name, a father's name and a family or grandfather's name. Applicants sometimes omit the middle one or swap the order to match a bank account. The form must mirror the passport line by line, or the record may not match at the border.
Flights from Dar es Salaam through the Gulf usually leave in the afternoon or evening and reach Colombo the next morning. The form asks when you arrive in Sri Lanka, not when you leave Tanzania. Check the itinerary for the landing date before filling it in.
Some Tanzanian bank cards are issued for local use and decline foreign online transactions by default. A failed payment leaves the application unsubmitted. Phone your bank to switch on international online use first, then complete the form in one sitting.
Tanzanians buying gemstones, textiles or spices for resale are carrying out trade, which a tourist ETA does not permit. Select the business option if the purpose is commercial, and keep the tourist category for genuine leisure travel.
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 resident mission in Dar es Salaam or Dodoma; Tanzania is covered by the High Commission in Nairobi. That distance is irrelevant for a tourist ETA, which Tanzanians complete online without posting a passport anywhere. Contact Nairobi only for matters beyond the ETA's scope.
FAQs
The questions Tanzanian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Tanzanian citizens must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation, widely referred to as a Sri Lanka visa, before travelling. It is issued online against the Tanzanian passport number and permits a tourist stay of 30 days.
It does not. Tanzania is outside the list of 40 countries, so the standard government rate is charged for adult Tanzanians. Under-12s are not charged the government fee, and our service fee applies; current totals are in the live prices on this page.
With one connection. Emirates via Dubai and Qatar Airways via Doha are the common choices, and Air Tanzania to Mumbai followed by a short onward flight also works. Expect 12 to 15 hours from Dar es Salaam in total.
Yes, the application is online and identical wherever in Tanzania you live. Zanzibaris travel on the Tanzanian passport, so enter Tanzania as the nationality and use the details from that booklet.
Usually one to two days. No fixed time is promised, so Tanzanian travellers should submit three to five days ahead at the very least, and earlier if flying during the December school holiday.
Yes, the tourist ETA allows two entries. The return must happen inside the 30 days that began on your first arrival, and a Tanzanian re-entering is given only the remaining balance of that period.
Renew it before applying. Sri Lanka requires six months of validity from your arrival date, and an ETA issued against the old Tanzanian passport cannot be transferred to its replacement.
Yes, each Tanzanian child has to be listed with their own passport details. Those under 12 are not charged the government fee for a tourist visit of up to 30 days, but they still need the authorisation.
Your nationality is already set to Tanzania. 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.
