Travellers heading to Sri Lanka are being urged to act immediately as a serious malfunction affecting the country’s Electronic Travel Authorization platform collides with an uncompromising entry policy that still requires most foreign visitors to complete an online ETA application before departure, raising the risk of airport delays, denied boarding and disrupted holidays.
System Malfunction Hits Core Entry Gateway
Sri Lanka’s Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) platform, the primary gateway for short-stay tourist and business visitors, is currently affected by a significant technical issue that is preventing many applicants from receiving timely approval notices. Authorities in Colombo confirmed the disruption this week, acknowledging that the malfunction is affecting the processing and communication of ETA decisions rather than the basic submission of applications.
The timing is particularly sensitive. Since late 2025, Sri Lanka has pivoted decisively toward advance screening, phasing out the flexibility of routine visa-on-arrival for most travellers and steering visitors toward mandatory online authorisation before they board a flight. As a result, the present outage is striking at the very heart of the country’s entry system, leaving would-be visitors unsure whether they are cleared to travel.
Immigration officials stress that the underlying requirement to obtain an ETA remains in place, even as the platform struggles to generate and deliver final approval messages. The malfunction has not led to any formal suspension of entry rules, and carriers are still expected to verify that passengers have complied with the application process before allowing them to board aircraft bound for Sri Lanka.
For travellers, that means the onus is still firmly on them to navigate a partially functioning online portal, retain proof of submission and be prepared to argue their case at check-in desks and immigration counters if the usual confirmation email fails to arrive in time.
Authorities Clarify: Application Still Mandatory Despite Glitch
In a clarification issued on February 19, 2026, Sri Lanka’s Department of Immigration and Emigration underlined that there has been no relaxation of the legal requirement to apply for a Tourist or Business ETA before travel. Officials emphasised that the current system issue is a technical disruption, not a policy shift, and that visitors remain responsible for submitting a complete, accurate application via the official government website before they fly.
According to the department, airlines will continue to expect passengers to show evidence that they have applied online, typically in the form of an ETA reference or acknowledgment notice generated when the form is submitted. The presence of this reference is now playing a critical role at the border, where immigration officers have been instructed to verify the data manually against back-end records when automated confirmation messages are missing.
This approach is intended to keep travel moving while the glitch is resolved, but it creates a narrow margin for error. Travellers who decide to wait and apply at the last minute, or who rely on screenshots that do not include essential reference details, could find themselves facing extra questioning at check-in or upon arrival. Officials are urging visitors to apply well in advance of departure and to retain every email and confirmation page linked to their application.
In practice, that means the apparent malfunction is adding an extra layer of stress to what was already a strict pre-clearance regime. The legal framework has not budged, while the technical system that supports it is only partially reliable, leaving travellers caught between inflexible rules and fragile technology.
Temporary Airport Workarounds Mask Ongoing Risk
To prevent a complete bottleneck at the border, Sri Lankan immigration authorities have introduced interim measures at Bandaranaike International Airport, the country’s main international gateway near Colombo. Under these temporary arrangements, passengers who can show an ETA acknowledgment or reference notice, even without a formal approval email, may still be granted a Tourist or Business ETA at the airport after manual verification by officers.
On paper, this workaround offers an important safety valve as the platform continues to misfire. In practice, however, it relies on travellers having taken the crucial step of applying online before departure. Those who attempt to fly without an application, assuming they can simply arrange a visa on arrival, risk being turned away at check-in or refused entry when they land.
Airport staff and ground handlers report that the new stopgap procedure is more time-consuming than the standard automated clearance. Manual verification of data requires additional checks, which can lengthen queues and processing times, especially during peak arrival waves. Travel agents warn that even passengers with valid acknowledgment notices should expect potential delays at the immigration counters as officers work through each case individually.
For families with young children, older travellers and those with close onward connections, this additional friction can be more than an inconvenience. Industry observers say the current situation underscores the vulnerability of border systems that depend heavily on a single digital gateway, particularly in destinations that have aggressively moved away from visa-on-arrival options.
Strict Rules for High-Risk Nationalities Remain Intact
While most nationalities can still rely on the temporary airport-based workaround, Sri Lankan authorities have explicitly excluded certain countries from the more flexible arrangements. Nationals of Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Ghana and Syria are currently required to have a Sri Lankan sponsor submit short-term visa applications directly to the Department of Immigration and Emigration’s head office in Colombo on their behalf.
This sponsor-based pathway exists alongside the main ETA scheme and has not been relaxed in response to the technical disruption. For affected travellers, the lack of any simplified mechanism means that they must engage with local business partners, family members or accredited agents in Sri Lanka well before undertaking any journey. Attempting to rely on the malfunctioning online ETA platform or to travel without prior clearance is likely to result in boarding refusals or denials of entry.
A separate procedure applies to travellers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. They must secure a recommendation from Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs before any short-term visa application can be lodged. That requirement, which predates the current ETA issues, continues to function as an additional political and security filter and has not been eased during the present disruption.
These layered rules highlight the government’s determination to maintain tight control over entry even as the digital tools underpinning its policies falter. For high-risk nationalities, the technical malfunction offers no additional flexibility, and in some cases raises the stakes if applications are delayed or misfiled by sponsors struggling with the same platform instability.
From Policy Whiplash to Digital Dependence
The present challenges come on the heels of several rapid-fire shifts in Sri Lanka’s visa landscape over the past two years. After experimenting with a commercial e-visa platform and then returning to direct government control, Colombo moved in October 2025 to make advance Electronic Travel Authorization effectively mandatory for most short-stay visitors, while reducing reliance on on-arrival facilities.
That tighter stance was temporarily paused soon after its introduction, as officials weighed the impact on tourism and weighed alternatives. However, by late 2025 and into 2026, the emphasis on pre-departure online authorisation had effectively reasserted itself. The result is a system in which the ETA has become the default route into the country for short-term tourists and business travellers, even as technical resilience has lagged behind policy ambition.
Travel industry analysts note that Sri Lanka is not alone in this trajectory. Other popular destinations have embraced online visa or authorisation tools as a way to prescreen visitors, collect fees and streamline border queues, only to discover that outages and bugs can have an outsize impact on visitor flows. Unlike temporary slowdowns at a consulate, disruptions in a centralised digital system can affect tens of thousands of travellers at once.
The current malfunction has therefore raised wider questions within Sri Lanka’s tourism sector about redundancy, contingency planning and the balance between security, convenience and reliability. As long as the ETA remains the primary gateway for most foreign visitors, any technical instability in the platform will translate directly into travel risk, regardless of stopgap measures at the airport.
What Travellers Need to Do Before Boarding
For travellers with imminent trips to Sri Lanka, the immediate priority is to complete the ETA application online as early as possible and to retain robust proof that the process was successfully submitted. That means saving the on-screen acknowledgment page, taking clear screenshots that include the reference number, and printing out the confirmation if a printer is available.
Given that some approval emails are reportedly delayed or not arriving at all, travellers should not rely solely on their inbox as evidence of compliance. Holding a reference notice or acknowledgment that can be presented both at the check-in desk and on arrival has become the cornerstone of a smooth journey. Airlines, under pressure to avoid carrying improperly documented passengers, are likely to err on the side of caution, so clear documentation remains essential.
Travel experts are urging visitors to allow extra time at every stage of the journey. That includes applying several days before departure, arriving at the airport earlier than usual, and anticipating longer waits at immigration on landing. Those with complex itineraries or close connections are being advised to build in wider buffers, or to consider rebooking flights to allow more time in case of manual processing at Colombo.
Passengers are also being reminded that frontline airline staff are not immigration officers and may not be fully briefed on Sri Lanka’s temporary workarounds. Displaying official acknowledgment documents and calmly explaining the current arrangements can help, but ultimately the decision to board a passenger rests with the carrier. In this environment, incomplete or ambiguous paperwork could easily tip the balance against travel.
Impact on Tourism and Industry Response
The malfunction comes at a time when Sri Lanka is working hard to rebuild its tourism sector, which has been buffeted in recent years by economic turbulence, political unrest and the lingering effects of the pandemic. The island’s beaches, cultural landmarks and wildlife reserves have been drawing a steady return of visitors, and industry stakeholders are acutely aware of the risk that fresh administrative hurdles could deter would-be travellers.
Hotels, tour operators and destination management companies report an uptick in queries from clients confused by conflicting or outdated information about entry rules. Some travellers are unsure whether visa-on-arrival remains an option, while others have incorrectly assumed that technical issues with the ETA platform amount to an informal amnesty. Industry professionals have been forced into the role of de facto visa advisers, reiterating that applications are still mandatory despite the disruption.
Travel associations are lobbying for clearer, more coordinated communication from the authorities, especially in key source markets across Europe, Asia and North America. They argue that airlines, embassies and national tourism organisations need synchronized messaging to prevent last-minute surprises at the gate. At the same time, many in the sector acknowledge that Sri Lanka’s efforts to modernise its border controls are aligned with global trends, and that the long-term benefits of efficient digital processing could be substantial once the current issues are resolved.
For now, the priority is damage control. Tour operators are advising clients to double-check that their passports are valid, their return tickets are confirmed and their ETA applications are properly documented. In a competitive regional tourism market, the way Sri Lanka navigates this period of turbulence could have lasting implications for its reputation as a welcoming, easy-to-enter destination.
Watching for Further Updates as Fixes Roll Out
Authorities in Colombo say they are working to stabilise the ETA platform and have promised that further updates will be issued through official announcements once the system is fully restored. Technical teams are understood to be investigating both the reliability of the application portal and the delivery of approval communications, which may involve coordination with external service providers and payment processors.
In the meantime, travellers are being encouraged to treat any unofficial shortcuts or third-party promises with extreme caution. The current instability creates fertile ground for opportunistic intermediaries offering to secure “instant approvals” or bypass formal procedures for a fee. Immigration officials and reputable travel advisers alike reiterate that the only safe route remains the official ETA application process and, where applicable, sponsor-based visas for restricted nationalities.
For visitors with trips scheduled in the weeks ahead, it will be important to monitor updates from national foreign ministries, airlines and Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, as these are likely to be the first channels to reflect changes in policy or system status. If the malfunction is resolved quickly, many of the current workarounds may be rolled back just as rapidly, restoring a more predictable pattern of pre-departure approvals.
Until then, Sri Lanka stands as a cautionary example of how intimately modern travel plans are tied to digital infrastructure. With the ETA platform under strain and the legal framework holding firm, travellers have little choice but to engage early, document carefully and prepare for a more complicated journey than they might have anticipated when they first booked their ticket to the Indian Ocean island.