Thai passport holders need an approved ETA before the three-hour flight from Bangkok to Colombo. It gives 30 days and two entries, and Thailand is on the list of countries whose government charge is waived.
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 Thai citizens
Thailand is one of the 40 countries whose nationals have the government charge on a tourist ETA waived. The ETA is still required before travel, and our service fee applies; see the live prices shown on this page.
Overview
Thailand and Sri Lanka share a Theravada Buddhist heritage that has travelled in both directions, and that link still fills aircraft. In 1753 the monk Upali Thera sailed from Ayutthaya to Kandy to restore higher ordination, and the order he founded, the Siam Nikaya, remains the largest monastic fraternity on the island. Thai pilgrims standing in the Temple of the Tooth are looking at a chapter of their own history.
Whatever brings you, whether a merit-making tour, a week of tea estates and slow trains, or a beach break that is not Phuket, a Thai passport holder needs an Electronic Travel Authorisation approved before leaving Bangkok. Thai searchers often call it a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and for a holiday the ETA is the document those words point to.
Thailand is one of the 40 countries whose citizens have had the government charge on a tourist ETA waived since 25 May 2026. The authorisation itself is still compulsory, and our service fee for handling the application still applies, so look at the live prices shown on this page instead of assuming there is nothing to pay.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Holding an ASEAN passport that opens Singapore, Vientiane or Kuala Lumpur for a visa-exempt weekend does not help here, because Sri Lanka sits outside those arrangements and asks every Thai visitor for an ETA. Check-in staff at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang look for it before they issue a boarding pass.
The tourist option fits what most Thai travellers do: temple circuits through Kandy, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, visiting friends or relatives working in Colombo, an Ayurveda retreat, or joining a sporting or cultural event. It does not stretch to work of any kind, paid or unpaid, however short the assignment.
Thai gem buyers heading for Ratnapura or Beruwala, garment and food-industry staff meeting suppliers, and delegates at a Colombo conference are travelling for business and should pick the business option when they apply. Buying sapphires for resale is trade, which the tourist authorisation excludes.
Monks and lay groups on organised pilgrimages need individual authorisations too, one against each passport, novices and children included. Visiting sacred sites as a pilgrim is ordinary tourism, whereas a monk formally invited to take part in a religious event or symposium falls under the business option.
Stay & validity
A tourist ETA gives Thai citizens 30 days in Sri Lanka, counted from the day of first arrival, with two entries. That second entry suits the popular pairing of Colombo with the Maldives: fly out to Malé for a few nights, come back, and use whatever is left of the same 30 days.
The balance does not reset. If you land on 1 December, spend ten days on the island, go to Malé and return on the 16th, the clock has been running since 1 December throughout.
Once approved, the authorisation can be used to travel for six months from the date of issue, so a Songkran trip can be dealt with in January. The conditions printed on your approval are the final word, and staying beyond the period granted needs an extension from the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, near Colombo.
Pricing
Live fees for Thai 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 Thailand
Requirements
Everything Thai 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.
Most applications from Thailand are approved within a day or two, and many sooner. That is not a promise, so the sensible margin is to apply at least three to five days before your flight and not treat the short hop from Bangkok as a reason to leave it until the night before.
Group travel needs more slack. A pilgrimage party of forty means forty passport numbers and forty chances of a mistyped digit, and one error discovered after payment means a fresh application for that person. Tour leaders should collect clear photo-page images two or three weeks ahead.
Demand rises before Songkran, around Visakha Bucha, and through the cool months from December to February when Thai travellers favour the hill country. Apply a couple of weeks ahead for those dates.
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
Thailand has some of the best air links to Sri Lanka anywhere in South-East Asia. SriLankan Airlines and Thai Airways fly between Suvarnabhumi and Colombo, Thai AirAsia operates from Don Mueang, and travellers from Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai or Khon Kaen connect through Bangkok on a domestic flight.
Best time to go
Thailand's long school holiday, from mid-March to mid-May, overlaps the tail end of the best weather on Sri Lanka's west and south coasts and in the hill country. March is reliably good; by May the south-west monsoon is arriving on that side and the east coast around Trincomalee and Pasikudah takes over.
Songkran and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year fall in the same week of mid-April, which surprises many Thai visitors. It is a festive time to be there, but shops, restaurants and some transport shut for a couple of days as Sri Lankans go home to their villages, so book drivers and hotels early.
For Buddhists the calendar offers more. Vesak, the Visakha Bucha full moon in May, fills Colombo with lanterns and illuminated pandals, and the Kandy Esala Perahera in July or August parades the casket of the Tooth Relic with dancers, drummers and elephants.
The October school break lands in Sri Lanka's inter-monsoon weeks, when afternoon showers can fall anywhere. It still works for a short Cultural Triangle trip built around Sigiriya and Dambulla. From December to February, Nuwara Eliya is properly cold at night by Thai standards, so pack a jacket for the tea country.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Thailand — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Thai forms, ID cards and bank documents use the Buddhist Era, 543 years ahead of the calendar in your passport. Typing 2535 as a year of birth, or a passport expiry in the 2570s, creates a record that cannot match the document. Copy every date exactly as the passport photo page shows it.
Thai has no single agreed Roman spelling, so the same name can appear as Somchai or Somchay, Srisuk or Sisuk. The only version that counts is the one the passport office printed. Long surnames deserve a letter-by-letter check before payment, because an error found afterwards means applying again.
Temple and tour groups often pass a stack of passports to a single organiser. That works, but each approval is tied to one passport number, and a member who renews a passport after the list went in will reach Suvarnabhumi with an authorisation that no longer matches.
Sri Lankan sapphires draw Thai traders, particularly from Chanthaburi. Buying stones to sell on is trade, which sits outside the tourist authorisation. Choose the business option if commerce is the real reason for the journey, even when a few days of sightseeing are attached.
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's embassy in Bangkok handles consular matters and visa categories that the online system does not cover, such as media assignments. Thai tourists and business visitors applying for an ETA do not need to go there, book an appointment or hand over a passport.
FAQs
The questions Thai passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Thai citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online permission most people mean when they say Sri Lanka visa, before travelling. For a holiday it allows 30 days and two entries. Thailand is on Sri Lanka's waiver list, so the government charge on a tourist ETA is not collected, though the authorisation remains mandatory.
The government charge is waived for Thai nationals on a tourist ETA under the scheme that began on 25 May 2026. Our service fee for preparing and submitting the application is separate and still applies. The live prices shown on this page give the current total for a Thai passport.
Thirty days from the date of first arrival on a tourist ETA. You may enter twice within that period, but coming back from the Maldives or India does not restart the count. A longer stay requires an extension granted in Sri Lanka by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Yes. SriLankan Airlines and Thai Airways link Suvarnabhumi with Colombo, and Thai AirAsia flies from Don Mueang, with a journey of roughly three hours twenty minutes. Timetables shift between the summer and winter seasons, so confirm the current days of operation when you book.
No. Use the Christian-era year printed in your passport, which is the Buddhist Era year minus 543. Someone born in 2538 BE enters 1995. The same applies to the issue and expiry dates of the passport.
Every member of the group does, monks and novices included, each against his or her own passport. Visiting temples and sacred sites as a pilgrim counts as tourism. Someone formally invited to take part in a religious event or symposium should apply under the business option instead.
Children must be included in an application whatever their age, with their own passport details. No government fee is charged for under-12s of any nationality, and older Thai children fall under the waiver. Look at the expiry date in a child's passport well before a school-holiday trip, since six months must remain on arrival.
You can, because the tourist ETA is double entry. Both arrivals must fall inside the 30 days that started when you first landed, and on the second you receive only the days remaining. Keep your onward ticket to Bangkok handy for the officer.
Your nationality is already set to Thailand. 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.
