Togolese passport holders must obtain an ETA ahead of any trip to Sri Lanka. The online application takes minutes to complete in Lomé or abroad and results in a 30-day authorisation valid for 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
Lomé is a transit city by nature, a port and airline hub through which much of West Africa passes, and Togolese people are seasoned regional travellers as a result. Long-haul trips to Asia are rarer. Those who do head for Sri Lanka include importers, seafarers on leave, students with friends on the island and couples wanting a destination their neighbours have not yet discovered.
Before any of them can go, Sri Lanka requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation. You will also hear it called a Sri Lanka visa, or visa électronique in French, and for short tourist visits the ETA is indeed the document meant.
What follows is written for holders of a Togolese passport. It covers the standard-rate status of Togo, the meaning of a double-entry stay, how Ewe and Kabye names should be transcribed, and the reality of getting from Gnassingbé Eyadéma airport to Colombo, which takes some planning.
At a glance
Eligibility
The answer for Togolese citizens is straightforward: an ETA is obligatory. Sri Lanka applies the requirement to all foreign nationals, and it wants the authorisation granted before arrival. Plan for it at the same time as you plan your flights.
Togo does not appear among the forty countries whose citizens stopped paying the government charge on 25 May 2026. Togolese applicants are therefore in the standard category. The government rate and our service fee are both displayed in the live prices shown on this page, so you can see the total before committing.
For a holiday, a visit to friends, a wellness programme or a sporting fixture, apply for the tourist ETA. Importers from the Lomé free zone meeting exporters, delegates at a workshop and people on short training courses need the business option. Paid work, unpaid work and self-employment are excluded from both, and nobody may use repeated short visits as a way of living in Sri Lanka.
Togolese with German, French or Belgian citizenship, of whom there are many, will find those three countries inside the waiver. The benefit attaches to the passport, so it is only available if you apply and travel as a German, French or Belgian national. Applying as Togolese from an address in Hamburg or Lyon still means the standard rate.
Stay & validity
Togolese tourists receive 30 days, running from the date of first arrival. Within that time the ETA can be used twice. If you break your stay with a trip to Malé or Chennai, your second entry is for the remainder only: twenty days if you were away having used ten.
The authorisation is valid for travel for six months from the day it is issued, which leaves plenty of flexibility if your dates move. Always check the conditions stated on the approval, because those are the ones immigration will apply.
At the border your passport must show at least six months of validity. Togolese biometric passports are applied for through an online pre-enrolment followed by an appointment in Lomé, so a renewal is not instant. Sort out the passport before the ETA, since the authorisation is bound to a single passport number and lapses when that passport is replaced.
Pricing
Live fees for Togolese 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 Togo
Requirements
Everything Togolese 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.
Approvals for Togolese applicants typically arrive in one or two days, but that is a pattern and not a promise. Submit yours three to five days ahead at the latest. If your journey begins with a regional flight or a drive to Accra, count back from that first leg.
Togo observes GMT with no clock changes, and Colombo is five and a half hours in front. By the time Lomé's working day reaches mid-afternoon, Sri Lanka's has ended. To give the application the fullest possible day, submit it early.
Certain weeks call for more notice. Togolese Independence Day on 27 April and the Easter period often overlap with the tail of Sri Lanka's New Year holidays, and December is busy at both ends. For those dates, ten days to two weeks of lead time is comfortable.
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
Lomé is well served within Africa but has no nonstop or Gulf-carrier service towards Sri Lanka. Togolese travellers usually begin with a short regional flight, or the road along the coast, to Accra, and connect there to a one-stop service through the Gulf. The alternative is to route through Addis Ababa and then a Gulf hub, which means two changes.
Best time to go
The Togolese coast is driest from November to February, and those are also excellent months for southern and western Sri Lanka. A January trip puts you on the beaches around Hikkaduwa and Tangalle in settled weather, with Galle Fort and the whale-watching harbour of Mirissa close by.
School holidays from July to September suit the opposite side of the island. Nilaveli and Uppuveli near Trincomalee are sheltered and sunny then, and inland the national parks are dry enough for easy wildlife viewing. Rain in the south-west eases by September.
Togolese Christians will find churches of most denominations in Colombo and a strong Catholic presence in Negombo, near the airport. Around Vesak, at the May full moon, towns are hung with lanterns and free food stalls line the streets, a memorable time to visit although some services pause.
Sri Lanka's food will not shock anyone raised on pepper and palm oil: curries are hot, coconut is everywhere and rice is the staple. Pack for cool nights in the hills and plan around Poya days, when alcohol is not sold anywhere in the 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 Togo — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Because no single airline carries you from Lomé to Colombo with one change, many Togolese travel on two tickets. The first carrier may ask for the ETA, and the second certainly will. Have it approved before the first departure, not the long-haul one.
Kossi, Yao, Ama and Abla are used daily in Togo but are not always official. An application that includes a name absent from the passport, or leaves out one that is printed, will not match at the border.
Ewe is written with letters such as ɖ and ɔ, and French adds accents. None of them belongs on the form. Use the simplified spelling in the two lines of capitals at the bottom of your data page.
Togolese living in Germany, France or Ghana occasionally select that country when asked for nationality. The field refers to the passport you hold. A wrong selection cannot be corrected after payment and means starting again.
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
Togo hosts no Sri Lankan diplomatic mission, and coverage comes from Nairobi. That is of little consequence to holidaymakers: the ETA is an online product from start to finish. Keep the mission in mind only for matters such as approval-based visas, and check with the foreign ministry that the accreditation is unchanged.
FAQs
The questions Togolese passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes. Togolese citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online entry permission often called a Sri Lanka visa, before travelling. It allows tourists a stay of 30 days with two entries.
Online. There is no office to visit in Lomé and no Sri Lankan embassy in the country. You complete the form, pay by card and receive the approval by email.
No. The waiver covers forty nationalities and Togo is not one of them. Togolese passports are subject to the standard government rate; check the live prices shown on this page for the current total.
Most people connect twice, or travel first to Accra and take a one-stop Gulf service from there. Door to door the trip commonly takes between 20 and 26 hours, so allow recovery time on arrival.
Only if it is printed on your passport. The application must reproduce the passport, nothing more and nothing less, in unaccented Latin letters.
Sri Lanka asks travellers arriving from countries with yellow fever risk, Togo included, to show a vaccination certificate. This health requirement stands apart from the ETA and is checked separately, so carry both.
Yes, if the visit is purely a holiday. Joining or leaving a vessel, or any work on board in Sri Lankan waters, is not tourism and falls outside the tourist ETA. Apply under the purpose that reflects your real plans.
As early as you like within reason, because the approval is valid for travel for six months. Applying once your tickets are confirmed, and no later than three to five days before leaving, is the sensible range.
Your nationality is already set to Togo. 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.
