Americans and other tourists visiting Sri Lanka will not need to apply for a visa starting Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Today, the Cabinet has authorised the President to implement a visa-free policy for 38 nationalities with immediate effect, adopting Singapore’s streamlined ‘one-stop’ approach,” Ali Sabry, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said on social media X. “This decision will help ease congestion at visa counters.”
In August, the South Asian country announced that it will allow visa-free entry. applied to 35 countries starting in October for a six-month trial period before the government suddenly announced this latest policy change.
Previously, tourists had to apply online for a Sri Lanka e-Tourist Permit through Sri Lanka tourism portal. The visa is initially valid for 30 days from the date of your arrival but can be extended for up to six months.
However, the new policy comes into effect immediately and provides visa-free entry to visitors with passports from 38 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Citizens from nine countries — Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Ghana, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria — are currently ineligible for visas on arrival in Sri Lanka; that will not change under this policy.
At the time of publication, the Sri Lankan government had not yet updated its website to reflect the new visa-free entry requirements. With this latest policy change, there are now just 13 countries require US citizens to obtain a tourist visa to visit.
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