Sri Lanka ETA for Indian Citizens: Free, and Still Compulsory

Sri Lanka stopped charging Indian passport holders for a tourist visa on 25 May 2026. India is one of the 40 countries on the free list published by the Department of Immigration & Emigration, and the tourist Electronic Travel Authorization — the ETA — now costs nothing at all.

The part that catches people out is what did not change. The fee went away; the requirement did not. Sri Lanka’s own notice is unusually blunt about it: all foreign nationals, including nationals of the 40 free countries, must obtain an ETA before arriving. A free visa is still a visa, an airline can refuse to board you without one, and it is a five-minute form that costs zero rupees. There is no good reason to arrive without it.

Nobody has published when the free window closes

This is the one thing worth knowing before you book a trip for later in the year, and it is the one thing no official page answers. The Cabinet approved the measure on 30 March 2026, Parliament approved the regulations in May, and the Department implemented it by circular on 19 May 2026 with effect from 25 May. All three steps are documented. The end date is not.

Two durations are in circulation. The measure was reported at the parliamentary stage as a one-year facility with a review after six months, while earlier communications described a six-month scheme — and six months from 25 May 2026 lands on 24 November 2026. Both readings put the decision point in late November 2026. Neither is stated on eta.gov.lk or in the Department’s notice, which simply describe the waiver as being in effect.

One detail hints at how the Department handles the boundary in the other direction: ETA fees paid before 25 May 2026 are explicitly non-refundable. Travellers who had already paid US$50 did not get it back when the waiver started. That is a reasonable guide to how much grace to expect at the far end.

Double entry does not mean two visits of 30 days

The free ETA is valid for 30 days from the date you first arrive, and it permits two entries. Those two facts get combined into something the ETA does not offer. Sri Lanka’s wording is precise: during the second entry, only the balance of the 30 days is granted. The clock starts when you first land and keeps running while you are away.

So a fortnight in Sri Lanka, a week in the Maldives, then a return to Colombo works — you come back on the same ETA with about nine days left. Six weeks away and a hopeful return does not work: the ETA has expired, and the second entry is not a new one. If your plan needs two full stays, you need a second ETA for the second trip, and you cannot hold two at once. The application form asks whether you already have a current ETA and stops you if you say yes.

What you actually need to show

The ETA is approved on the strength of a short form, but the conditions attach at the border. The portal lists what every ETA holder must be able to produce at the port of entry.

• A passport valid for at least six months from the date of arrival. Not from the date you apply, and not from the date you fly home. This is the requirement most often missed, and it takes half a minute to check against the arrival date on your ticket.
• A confirmed return or onward ticket.
• Sufficient funds for the stay. No amount is published for Sri Lanka, so this is officer discretion rather than a number you can satisfy in advance.
• A copy of the ETA approval. The portal advises carrying one. Approval is recorded against your passport, but a printout ends an argument quickly.

The form itself is short: names, passport details, arrival date, purpose of visit, where you are staying, and the countries you have visited in the past two weeks. Approval is often the same day, sometimes within the hour, but the Department publishes no guaranteed processing time. Applying a week ahead costs nothing and removes the risk entirely.

Staying longer, and what overstaying costs

A 30-day tourist ETA can be extended inside Sri Lanka, up to a total of six months. The Department’s fee schedule names India in the note covering extensions of free visas, and Indian nationals fall in the general band: US$60 to extend from 31 to 90 days, US$150 to 180 days, and US$200 to 270 days. The extension is paid even though the original visa was free.

The waiver is tourism only

The free list applies to the tourist ETA. Everything else on Sri Lanka’s schedule is unchanged, which matters if your trip is not a holiday.

• Business ETA: US$30 for Indian nationals. Multiple entry, 30 days, priced on the South Asian band rather than the US$55 other nationals pay. The tourist waiver does not reach it.
• Transit ETA: free for everyone. Single entry, two days, and free regardless of nationality — not a concession that came with the 2026 waiver.
• Children under 12: free of charge, of any nationality. Free of the fee, not of the requirement. A child still needs their own ETA.

Choosing tourist when the trip is a conference or a client meeting is not a shortcut worth taking for the sake of US$30. The business form asks for your Sri Lankan host and your own employer, which is the kind of detail that is awkward to invent at a counter.

One official site, and a published list of the others

Sri Lanka has an unusually specific scam problem, and it is documented by its own missions. The only official portal is eta.gov.lk. The Department states that payments made to other websites or agencies are not valid for an ETA, and Sri Lankan High Commissions have published lists of lookalike domains that charge travellers inflated fees for the same free form.

The Department adds a warning worth repeating: pay on the official portal, and avoid paying a second time at the port of entry. As an Indian passport holder in 2026 you should not be paying a government fee at all — so any page presenting a Sri Lankan government charge for your tourist ETA is describing something that does not currently exist.

The short version

• Apply at eta.gov.lk about a week before you fly. As an Indian citizen, expect to pay nothing.
• Check your passport has six months left counted from your arrival date, not your departure date.
• Treat the 30 days as one clock covering both entries, and do not plan two separate trips on one ETA.
• If you are travelling in December 2026 or later, re-check the fee before you assume the waiver is still there.

Sri Lanka has made this about as easy as a visa gets: no fee, no appointment, no documents to upload. The only ways to get it wrong are to skip it because it is free, to read double entry as two trips, or to arrive on a passport with five months left on it.