On Friday 25 November, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Immigration and Emigration announced in a press release that it would increase fees in various visa categories on 1 December 2022. In this article, you can read whether the cost of the Sri Lanka e-visa has also increased and how this will affect your visa application.
Visa costs increased due to COVID-19 pandemic
Sri Lanka has been severely affected by a political and economic crisis over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The country therefore wants to implement fiscal reform measures to generate more foreign exchange. This way, the government wants to stabilise the country and avoid another crisis.
Ranil Wickramashinghe, Sri Lankaʼs president, presented a number of economic measures to parliament during his budget speech. Some of them, such as the increase in the price of various visa types, have already been implemented or will be implemented soon. Prices for obtaining passports and for several other services provided by Sri Lankaʼs Ministry of Immigration and Emigration will also be increased in the near future.
The measures mainly concern the increase in costs for various visa types, including the ETA Sri Lanka, but costs for granting visas to children of Sri Lankan parents with foreign passports and for granting dual citizenship are also increasing.
Increase in costs for granting dual citizenship
The cost of granting dual citizenship, in particular, has increased significantly. With an increase of 345,000 Sri Lankan rupees (equivalent to £782) to 2000 USD (equivalent to about £1660), the increase amounts to about 113%. The cost of obtaining dual citizenship, specifically for partners and children under 22, has also seen a sharp increase. Initially, the cost for this was 57,500 Sri Lankan rupees (equivalent to about £130), but it has now increased to 500 USD (equivalent to about £415).
Price increase of USD 15 for certain visa types
The cost of the electronic Sri Lanka visa, the ETA, has also increasing sharply. Until November 2022, the consular costs for obtaining a tourist visa were USD 35. These costs have increased by USD 15 to USD 50 as of December 1, 2022. The Sri Lanka immigration service also charges USD 2.08 for transaction costs per visa issued. Business travellers have always paid USD 5 more for their visa than tourists, and that remains the same. As such, the price of a business visa is USD 55.
Are you applying for a visa through a visa agency, such as e-Visa.co.uk, instead of directly with the immigration service? Then you also pay service costs. When applying for a visa on e-Visa.co.uk, you can use the simplified online application form in English. Furthermore, in this case, you can use 24/7 support by phone and email, and your application is manually checked before it is submitted to the immigration service. Thanks to this manual check by a visa specialist, the chances of you not receiving a visa or receiving an invalid one are reduced almost to zero.
Due to fluctuations in the exchange rate, the Sri Lanka visa service costs change daily. If you submit your visa application through e-Visa.co.uk, as an applicant, you will not notice this. This is because e-Visa.co.uk always charges the same costs of £79.95 per visa. The total price consists of the consular costs of 52.08 USD per visa, and what remains are the service costs for e-Visa.co.uk. At the current exchange rate, you will thus pay £38.79 in service costs for the Sri Lanka tourist e-visa.
Applying for the Sri Lanka visa online
Travellers wishing to travel to Sri Lanka after 1 December 2022, can also easily apply for the Sri Lanka visa online. This is the digital version of the visa also known as the e-visa or ETA. It is therefore not a paper visa and travellers do not need to visit a consulate or embassy to apply for their ETA. The e-visa is valid for six months from the date of issuance and may be used to enter the country twice. The maximum length of stay in Sri Lanka is 30 days from the date of your first arrival. Therefore, if you enter the country a second time, you must still leave Sri Lanka 30 days after your first arrival. An airline ticket does not need to be booked yet when you apply for the visa, but the ticket for your return or onward flight must be booked before you leave for Sri Lanka. In addition, on arrival in Sri Lanka, travellers must be able to prove they have sufficient financial means to pay for their trip through Sri Lanka.
Please note: this news article about the visa for Sri Lanka is more than one year old. It might contain outdated information and advice, and no rights can therefore be derived from this article. Are you going on a trip soon and do you wish to do know what rules currently apply? Read all about the up-to-date information about the visa for Sri Lanka.