Ukrainians need an approved ETA before flying to Colombo, whether the journey starts in Kyiv, Warsaw or Berlin. It gives 30 days and two entries, and the whole application is handled online against your foreign passport.
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
Ukrainians know Sri Lanka better than most Europeans realise. In the winter of 2020 and 2021 charter groups from Kyiv were among the very first tourists the island welcomed back, and for a while Ukraine sat near the top of the arrivals table. That habit of swapping a grey January for the beaches of Bentota, Unawatuna and Mirissa has not disappeared, even though the way people travel has changed completely.
With Ukrainian airspace closed to civil flights since February 2022, nobody now boards in Boryspil. Journeys begin with a train or coach to Poland, Hungary or Moldova, or they start from the European city where a Ukrainian family is currently living. None of that alters the paperwork: Sri Lanka asks every Ukrainian citizen for an Electronic Travel Authorisation, which many people simply call a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa.
The authorisation is requested online and recorded against the number of your закордонний паспорт, the biometric foreign passport. There is no consular appointment and nothing to post.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. A Ukrainian citizen visiting Sri Lanka for a holiday, to see friends or relatives, for Ayurveda or yoga treatment, or to take part in a sporting or cultural event needs a tourist ETA approved before departure. Ukraine is not among the forty countries covered by the waiver that began on 25 May 2026, so the standard government charge applies to Ukrainian passports.
Where you live makes no difference to that answer. A Ukrainian holding temporary protection in Germany, Poland or the Czech Republic still applies as a Ukrainian national, because the ETA follows the passport and not the country of residence. Your residence card or protection certificate is useful for getting back into the Schengen area afterwards, but it plays no part in the Sri Lankan application.
Every member of the family needs to be covered, including babies travelling on their own passports. Children younger than twelve are not charged the government fee for a tourist ETA of up to 30 days, yet they must still appear in an application. Ukrainian families often travel as a mother with children, so check each child's document separately.
A tourist ETA does not stretch to work. IT specialists who planned to spend a season working remotely from Weligama should note that employment, self-employment and business activity sit outside its conditions, as does living on the island through repeated back-to-back visits. For meetings, a conference or a short training course, Ukrainians should pick the business option.
Stay & validity
The tourist ETA allows a Ukrainian visitor to stay for 30 days counted from the first arrival, with two entries permitted in that period. If you fly out to the Maldives for a few days in the middle of the trip, the second landing in Colombo is given only whatever remains of the original 30 days.
Once approved, the authorisation can be used for travel during the six months after issue. That suits the way Ukrainians now plan, since overland legs to a departure airport are booked well ahead and dates sometimes slip. Whatever conditions are printed on your own approval take precedence over any general description.
Your foreign passport must still have six months to run on the day you land. Adult Ukrainian biometric passports last ten years, but those issued to children under sixteen last only four, and the first big wave of biometric passports from 2015 and 2016 is now reaching its end. Renewing abroad through a consulate or a Passport Service centre takes time, and a new passport means a new ETA.
Pricing
Live fees for Ukrainian 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 Ukraine
Requirements
Everything Ukrainian 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 Ukrainian passport holders are approved within a day or two. That is a typical experience, not a guaranteed timetable, and an application can occasionally take longer if a detail needs checking.
Because the trip to the airport is itself an international journey, apply earlier than a traveller elsewhere might. Aim to have the approval in your inbox at least five days before you leave home, and preferably before you buy the non-refundable train to Przemysl or Chelm. Queues at the Polish border are unpredictable, and an approved ETA is one fewer thing to worry about while you wait.
Demand rises ahead of the winter season from mid-December to February, when Ukrainians and many other Europeans head for the south coast together. Applying in November for a New Year trip is sensible.
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
No flights leave Ukraine, so the journey to Colombo is built in two parts: a land crossing to a neighbouring country, then a one-stop flight through the Gulf or Istanbul. Warsaw is the usual choice from Kyiv and Lviv, Chisinau works well from Odesa, and Budapest is convenient from Zakarpattia. Ukrainians already living in the European Union simply fly from their nearest large airport.
Best time to go
The classic Ukrainian season runs from December to March, when Kyiv is below freezing and the west and south coasts of Sri Lanka are dry, calm and warm. New Year remains the peak, and beach hotels between Hikkaduwa and Tangalle fill early for the first week of January.
School holidays shape family trips. The winter break around New Year and the short spring break in late March both fall inside the best months for the south-west, and March is noticeably quieter than January. Whale-watching boats still sail from Mirissa until April.
Summer is different. From late May to August, when Ukrainian schools are closed for three months, the south-west monsoon brings heavy rain to Colombo and Galle, so point the trip at Trincomalee, Pasikudah or the surf at Arugam Bay on the east side. The hill country around Ella stays green and cool all year.
Sri Lanka is three and a half hours ahead of Kyiv in winter and two and a half in summer, because Ukraine changes its clocks and Sri Lanka never does. Jet lag is mild compared with a trip to Thailand, though the long transfer day through Poland means many travellers arrive tired and should keep the first evening free.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Ukraine — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Ukraine changed its official transliteration rules in 2010, so the same person may appear as Oleksandr in a current passport and Alexander in an old one or on a bank card. Only the spelling in the passport you will carry counts. Read it from the photo page before you type.
Many Ukrainians abroad are waiting for a renewed passport. If you apply with the old number and the new document arrives before the trip, the approval stays with the old one and you will have to apply and pay again.
A child's foreign passport runs for four years. Parents check their own ten-year document, assume the children's are fine, and discover at the airport that one falls short of the six months Sri Lanka expects.
Describing your stay as a working winter for a Kyiv employer does not fit a tourist authorisation. State the true purpose of the trip, and choose a holiday if a holiday is what it is.
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 embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine is covered from Ankara. None of this affects a tourist ETA, which is applied for entirely online; the missions matter only for visa types that fall outside the online system.
FAQs
The questions Ukrainian passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Ukrainian citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, the online permission often referred to as a Sri Lanka visa, before travelling. It covers a 30-day visit with two entries and is linked to your foreign passport.
No. Ukraine is outside the list of forty countries whose government charge has been waived since 25 May 2026, so the standard rate applies. The current total is shown in the live prices on this page.
Yes. The application can be made from anywhere, and you apply as a Ukrainian national with your Ukrainian foreign passport. Your European residence document is not part of the ETA, but carry it for the return journey.
Thirty days from the date of first arrival. Two entries are allowed inside that period, and a longer stay needs an extension from the immigration department in Battaramulla.
No. Only the biometric foreign passport is accepted for travel to Sri Lanka, and it is the number of that document the authorisation is recorded against.
Each child must be included in an application with their own passport details. Under-twelves are exempt from the government fee on a tourist ETA of up to 30 days, but not from the requirement itself.
No. The ETA only concerns entry to Sri Lanka. Exit rules under martial law are decided by the Ukrainian border service, and you should confirm your own position with them before booking anything.
Yes, a tourist ETA is double entry. Bear in mind that the clock keeps running while you are away, so the second stay is limited to the unused part of the first 30 days.
Your nationality is already set to Ukraine. 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.
