Americans Will Need To Get A Digital Entry Permit To Fly To This Trendy Asian Country

Joining in on a pattern that appears to be taking the world by storm, Sri Lanka is the following nation to tighten entry guidelines for Americans.

An island nation in South Asia, well-known for its lush jungles, unspoiled shoreline hugged by azure seas, and sprawling capital, Colombo, a vibrant melting pot of cultures with Indian, British, and Dutch influences, Sri Lanka has been rising in reputation amongst vacationers.

However, in the event you’re a U.S. passport holder and also you’re visiting from October 15, you will want to get a digital entry allow earlier than you allow house; in any other case you will not be allowed to board your flight, not to mention enter Sri Lanka:

Understanding Sri Lanka’s Complex Visa Rules

Sri Lanka has by no means been precisely recognized for having an uncomplicated visa system. From e-Visas, to e-Visas On Arrival, to common Consulate-issued visas, there have been loads of choices at hand, but one way or the other, that by no means made it simpler for vacationers planning visits.

Those flying to Sri Lanka needed to hold updated with regulation adjustments each day, and this yr, not a lot has modified.

Although it was introduced back in July that the Sri Lankan Government was, in actual fact, scrapping e-Visa charges for foreigners and making it much less bureaucratic for them to journey to Sri Lanka, they now appear to be eyeing an entire 180.

Not solely will the payment be maintained, at the very least in the interim, however beginning this fall, Americans (and each different vacationer, no matter nationality) will not be eligible to fly to Sri Lanka with out acquiring prior authorization.

Introducing The New Sri Lankan ETA

As confirmed by a number of Sri Lankan Embassies, together with these in Paris, Jakarta, and Ankara, vacationers heading to the South Asian nation should now apply for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) forward of departure.

Though they aren’t described as such, ETAs are successfully digital visas: in international locations that implement them, and up to date examples embody the United Kingdom and Saint Kitts and Nevis, you are not eligible to journey till you have bought ‘ETA accepted’.

Getting an ETA usually entails finishing an internet kind, the place you have to reply a sequence of non-public and safety questions, add a photograph of your passport, and pay a payment. The payment varies wildly between international locations, starting from $21 within the U.Okay. to a extra biting $68 in New Zealand.

Regarding Sri Lanka, regardless of their promise of a payment waiver, we’re nonetheless unsure whether or not the brand new obligatory ETA will incur a further value. For the second, it is protected to imagine it is going to.

At the second, residents of solely 7 nations are exempt from paying a payment to enter Sri Lanka: China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan—as you possibly can see, Americans will not be a part of the choose group.

How To Get The Sri Lankan ETA

The new Sri Lankan ETA might be obtained by way of the official Sri Lankan ETA web site, and proper now, the payment is $50 for a double-entry allow. The course of is the next:

• Access the official web site at eta.gov.lk
• Complete the net kind (this will likely embody importing an image of your passport)
• Pay the $50 payment
• Wait for the affirmation e-mail inside a few minutes or hours.

Beside the ETA, your U.S. passport should have at the very least 6 months of validity left out of your date of departure from Sri Lanka, and at the very least one full clean web page for entry and exit stamps.

The Sri Lankan ETA is legitimate for six months from the date of subject, so you’ll have 180 days to enter the nation after you have obtained it, and it permits you a keep of as much as 30 days. If you propose on staying longer, you will have the choice to increase the visa by native immigration places of work.

So far this yr, Sri Lanka has hosted over 1.7 million vacationers. In September alone, 150,000 international entrants had been recorded.

This already marks the nation’s finest first semester by way of vacationer arrivals, and will the pattern proceed, it is going to probably surpass 2018’s all-time excessive of two.3 million in a yr.