Sri Lanka’s Department of Immigration and Emigration is currently experiencing a temporary disruption in the transmission of approval notices for Electronic Travel Authorizations (ETA).
In an official statement, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Australia confirmed that authorities are currently facing “a temporary delay in issuing ETA approval notices.”
For its part, the Sri Lankan Embassy in the United Kingdom stated that “this disruption is due to unforeseen technical circumstances and is being addressed on priority by the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka.”
The Sri Lankan Embassy in Vietnam echoed the same message, referring to an “unforeseen technical issue” that is expected to be “resolved in due course.”
Travelers already registered on the ETA portal may proceed with departure
Despite these administrative delays, the message from Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions is clear: passengers who have already submitted and paid for an ETA application on the official portal eta.gov.lk may travel, even if they have not yet received formal approval.
“Travellers who have already applied for an ETA may still proceed with their travel to Sri Lanka even if they have not received the ETA approval notice,” Sri Lankan embassies confirmed.
Authorities explain that airlines have been officially informed and instructed to facilitate boarding for affected passengers, even in the absence of an approval notification.
For impacted travelers, the process will be regularized upon arrival in Colombo. Authorities state that “ETA verification and necessary facilitation will be provided upon arrival at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Sri Lanka.”
In other words, entry into the country has not been suspended; the process has simply been temporarily adjusted to avoid penalizing travelers.
A new episode in a shifting regulatory environment
This disruption comes amid recent changes to Sri Lanka’s entry policy.
On October 15, authorities made it mandatory to obtain an ETA prior to departure, ending certain previously available conveniences. However, the measure was suspended just a few days later in response to operational challenges and concerns raised by the tourism sector.
At the same time, Colombo has been working for several months on a plan to expand the list of countries eligible for free ETAs.
Currently, seven countries (China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand) already benefit from this fee exemption. According to recent announcements, the following 33 countries may soon be added to the list (pending confirmation):
- Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States.
The measure is highly anticipated by the tourism industry, though its implementation has yet to materialize…
