Yemeni passport holders need an ETA approved before they set out for Colombo, whether from Aden or from a home in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan or Malaysia. It provides 30 days and two entries at the standard government rate.
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 Yemeni citizens
Yemen is not one of the 40 countries for which Sri Lanka waives the government charge on tourist ETAs. The standard rate applies to Yemeni passports, and the live prices shown on this page give the current total.
Overview
Centuries before modern passports, sailors and merchants from Aden, Mukalla and the Hadhramaut valley crossed the Arabian Sea to trade in the ports of Ceylon, and some of the island's Muslim families trace their ancestry to them. That shared history gives Sri Lanka a familiar feel for Yemeni visitors, down to the mosques of Galle and Beruwala.
Today the journey is harder than it was by dhow. Few airlines serve Yemen, so reaching Colombo takes planning, and much of the Yemeni travelling public now lives abroad in Jeddah, Riyadh, Cairo, Amman or Kuala Lumpur. For many, the trip is a honeymoon, a break from the Gulf summer or a medical and wellness stay.
The document required is an Electronic Travel Authorisation, loosely known as a Sri Lanka visa or e-visa, and it is applied for online before departure. Yemeni passports are charged at the standard rate. This guide concentrates on what is hardest for Yemeni applicants: routing, transit and getting a long Arabic name onto the form correctly.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. A Yemeni citizen needs an approved ETA for any short visit, with no exceptions based on where the passport was issued or where the holder resides. Because your journey will involve at least one change of aircraft, the authorisation must be ready before the very first flight.
Holidays, honeymoons, family visits, Ayurveda and medical treatment, and going to sporting or cultural events all fall under the tourist ETA. Yemenis who already travel abroad for healthcare sometimes combine a clinic stay with rest by the sea, and that is permitted.
Coffee, honey and spice traders meeting counterparts in Colombo, and anyone attending a conference, seminar, workshop or training of under a month, should apply under the business option. A tourist ETA is not suitable for commercial dealings of any kind.
Nor does it allow employment, self-employment or residence built up through one visit after another. Journalists, political activists and staff of non-governmental organisations require prior approval from the Sri Lankan government, which cannot be obtained through the online ETA.
Stay & validity
The tourist ETA lets a Yemeni visitor stay 30 days, counted from the first arrival, with two entries. A short excursion to the Maldives followed by a return to Colombo is allowed, and the remaining days of the original 30 are what you receive on coming back.
After it is issued, the approval can be used to enter for the first time at any point over the next six months. That generous window helps when flights out of Yemen are rescheduled. The conditions on your approval document are the definitive ones.
Your passport has to remain valid for six months after the date you arrive. Renewing a Yemeni passport, whether in Aden or through an embassy abroad, can take a long time, so look at the expiry date early. A replacement has a different number, which means a new ETA application. Anyone wanting more than 30 days must ask the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla, near Colombo, for an extension.
Pricing
Live fees for Yemeni 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 Yemen
Requirements
Everything Yemeni 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.
Yemeni applications are commonly approved in a day or two. Before submitting, we match every part of the name and each date against the passport image, as long names are where mismatches arise. Longer waits do occur, and no turnaround is assured.
Because journeys from Yemen involve more connections and less flexibility than most, apply earlier than the usual three to five days if you can; a week or more before the first flight is prudent. Colombo runs two and a half hours ahead of Sana'a and Aden.
Allow longer still before Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha and during the summer, when Yemenis in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf travel in large numbers. Internet and electricity interruptions inside Yemen are another reason not to leave the form to the final evening.
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 carrier flies from Yemen to Sri Lanka, and options out of the country are limited. Yemenia links Aden, and at times Seiyun, with Cairo, Amman, Jeddah and Riyadh, and from those cities you continue to Colombo, generally through another Gulf hub. Two connections are therefore normal for travellers starting in Yemen. Yemenis who live in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates or Malaysia have a much simpler trip, often a single flight.
Best time to go
For Yemenis living in the Gulf, the summer school holiday from June to August is the natural time to leave the heat behind. Sri Lanka's east coast is in season then, with clear water at Nilaveli and Pasikudah, while the highlands around Nuwara Eliya feel as temperate as Sana'a or Ibb. Avoid the south-west beaches in those months, when the sea is rough.
From December to March the pattern reverses and the south and west come into their own. Beruwala, with one of the island's oldest mosques, sits on this coast near Bentota's beaches, and Galle Fort's Muslim quarter is a short drive further. This is also the most comfortable period for the ancient cities inland.
The Eid holidays change date each year, so check the season for whichever coast you intend to visit. Ramadan itself is quiet for tourism but straightforward for Muslim visitors, as Colombo, Kandy and the coastal towns have mosques and restaurants serving iftar.
April and October to November are transitional, with sudden showers. Mid-April is the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, when transport is crowded and many businesses pause. Full-moon Poya days are public holidays every month, on which government offices are closed.
Avoid these
Problems are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the ones that come up most often on applications from Yemen — worth a minute now rather than a new application later.
Yemeni passports generally list four names, and online forms designed around a first name and a surname tempt people to drop the middle two. Sri Lankan records are matched against the passport as printed. Put the family name in the surname field and all the remaining names, in order, under given names.
Yemenis living in Saudi Arabia use their iqama number for almost everything, and those in Egypt or Malaysia have their own permit numbers. None of these belongs on the ETA. The authorisation is linked to the passport number alone, and a wrong entry cannot be amended once payment has been made.
With two connections, you may pass through countries that require Yemenis to hold a transit visa or to stay airside on a single ticket. The Sri Lankan ETA has no bearing on those rules. Ask each airline what it needs before you buy, because a refusal at an intermediate airport ends the journey.
Since replacing a Yemeni passport can take months, travellers sometimes set out on one with seven or eight months left and then postpone the trip. By the new date, fewer than six months remain and boarding is denied. Work out the validity for your actual arrival day, and recalculate if your flights move.
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 Sana'a or Aden, and Yemen is covered from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Muscat, Oman. Yemeni applicants for an ETA have no need to approach it, as the authorisation is requested online and sent by email. The Muscat embassy would be the contact only for longer-term visas or for work that needs prior clearance from Colombo.
FAQs
The questions Yemeni passport holders ask most often about travelling to Sri Lanka.
Yes, Yemeni citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), commonly thought of as a Sri Lanka visa, which must be approved before travelling. For tourists it means 30 days and two entries. Yemen is not part of the fee waiver, so the standard government rate applies.
Yes. The form is completed online from Yemen or from your country of residence, and no embassy visit is required. This is useful because Sri Lanka has no diplomatic mission inside Yemen.
Apply online with your Yemeni passport number, not your iqama number, and give your Saudi address. The government charge follows your Yemeni nationality. Make sure your exit and re-entry permission covers the dates of the trip.
No. Yemen is not one of the 40 countries whose government charge was waived from 25 May 2026. Yemeni children under 12 are not charged the government fee on a tourist stay of up to 30 days. Totals appear in the live prices shown on this page.
Thirty days from first arrival, with up to two entries within that time. If you leave and return, only the unused days are granted. An extension must be requested from the immigration department before the 30 days end.
There are no direct flights. From Aden you normally fly with Yemenia to Cairo, Amman, Jeddah or Riyadh and connect onward, usually with a second change in the Gulf. Check transit rules for each stop.
Place the family name in the surname field and your own, your father's and your grandfather's names in the given-names field, in the order and spelling the passport uses. Do not shorten or omit any of them.
Yes. Medical treatment, including Ayurveda and yoga programmes, is one of the purposes covered by the tourist ETA. The stay is still limited to 30 days unless an extension is granted in Sri Lanka.
Your nationality is already set to Yemen. 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.
