You need an ETA, and it is not free for a Bangladeshi passport. That is the answer, and it contradicts the most repeated claim about this trip. Sri Lanka’s Department of Immigration and Emigration publishes a list of 40 countries whose nationals get a tourist ETA free of charge for 30 days, effective 25 May 2026. India and Pakistan are on that list. Bangladesh is not. What Bangladesh does get is the discounted SAARC rate on the department’s own published fee schedule: US$20 for a tourist visa submitted by the applicant, at a Sri Lankan overseas mission, or at head office, and US$25 on arrival, against US$50 and US$60 respectively for other nationalities. Both figures were read on the department’s fee page on 30 July 2026.
That is the short version, and it is genuinely short. Sri Lanka is one of the easier trips on a Bangladeshi passport. The rest of this guide clears up the terminology, corrects the free-visa claim properly, and points you at the one portal that matters.
What an ETA actually is
ETA stands for Electronic Travel Authorization. It is a digital permission to travel to Sri Lanka, granted before you fly, and it is not a sticker or a stamp placed in your passport in advance.
Three practical things follow from that.
It is checked before you board, not just on arrival. The airline at Dhaka needs to see that you hold it, because carriers are held responsible for passengers who are refused entry. No ETA, no boarding pass, however valid your ticket is.
It is not the same thing as entry. The ETA authorizes you to travel and to present yourself at Sri Lankan immigration. The immigration officer at Bandaranaike then decides what you get and for how long. This is how travel authorizations work in general, and it is why “I have an ETA” and “I am guaranteed in” are two different sentences.
It has its own validity window, separate from your stay. The authorization is issued with a period in which it can be used, and the stay it grants runs from your first arrival. Apply too early and the authorization can lapse before you travel. Apply close to your trip, once your dates are fixed.
The free-for-SAARC claim, and why it is wrong for us
This is the part of the search results to distrust, so it is worth being specific about what the authority says.
The Department of Immigration and Emigration’s own page states that, with effect from 25 May 2026, nationals of 40 listed countries are eligible for a tourist ETA free of charge for 30 days, with a double entry facility from the date of first arrival. The page names reciprocal arrangements with Maldives, Seychelles and Singapore, with Maldivian nationals receiving 90 days rather than 30. It does not treat SAARC as a bloc, and it does not name Bangladesh.
Several travel and visa-service pages nonetheless state that SAARC nationals including Bangladeshis enter free. It is easy to see how that spread. India and Pakistan are both SAARC members and both are on the free list, so a writer skimming the list and generalizing from two entries reaches “SAARC is free” without ever checking whether Bangladesh appears. It does not.
There is a second, quieter reason the claim survives: it is nearly true. Bangladesh is not free, but it is not on the full rate either. The department maintains a separate SAARC column in its fee table, and Bangladeshi travelers are charged from that column. So the correct sentence is not “free” and not “the standard tourist rate”. It is “the SAARC rate”, and the difference between US$20 and US$50 is exactly why it is worth getting right.
If you take one habit from this page, take this one: when a visa page tells you your nationality is included in a group benefit, find your country’s name on the authority’s own list before you believe it.
What it costs, as published
From the Department of Immigration and Emigration’s fee schedule, read 30 July 2026:
| Tourist visa, submitted | SAARC nationals | Other nationalities |
|---|---|---|
| By the applicant, at a Sri Lankan overseas mission, or at head office | US$20 | US$50 |
| On arrival | US$25 | US$60 |
Two notes from the same schedule. Business visas carry their own higher rates, so if your trip is a business visit you are reading the wrong row. And children under 12 are issued a free tourist visa for stays up to 30 days regardless of nationality, with extension fees applying beyond that.
No taka figure appears here on purpose. The fee is levied in US dollars, so any BDT equivalent is a snapshot of one day’s exchange rate dressed up as a price. Your card issuer’s rate on the day you pay is what you will actually be charged, and your bank can tell you that better than we can.
The on-arrival option costs more than applying in advance, which is the department’s way of encouraging you to apply in advance. Do that. Paying an extra five dollars to stand in a longer queue after a flight is a poor trade.
The only portal that matters
Sri Lanka’s authorization is applied for through the government’s own system, reachable from the Department of Immigration and Emigration at immigration.gov.lk, with the application and fee pages served under eta.gov.lk.
That is it. Every other site offering to obtain your ETA is an intermediary charging a service fee on top of a US$20 government charge. Some are transparent about it and some are not. Given how small the underlying fee is, the markup on this particular authorization is often larger than the authorization.
Start from immigration.gov.lk and follow its own links rather than arriving at a payment page from a search result. That single habit removes almost all of the risk on this trip.
What you need, and how long it takes
Nothing exotic:
- A passport with comfortable validity beyond your travel dates. Six months beyond departure is the safe standard to hold yourself to.
- Your travel dates and flight details.
- Where you are staying for at least the first night.
- Return or onward travel. Airlines at Dhaka commonly want to see it, and immigration can ask.
- A card that works for an international online payment. Confirm with your bank that your card is enabled for it before you sit down to apply, because a declined payment at the last step is the most common way an application stalls.
Processing on a complete, straightforward tourist application is typically fast, often within a day or two. It can take longer in peak season or if anything on the application needs a second look. Apply once your dates are fixed, not the night before you fly, and print the confirmation when it arrives.
What the ETA gives you
The tourist authorization is issued for a 30 day stay. The free-list countries are granted double entry, and the fee schedule’s structure and the department’s extension provisions confirm that stays can be extended inside Sri Lanka on payment of the applicable fee.
Because entry conditions and the free-country list are both revised by circular, the sensible approach is to read the current terms on immigration.gov.lk at the point you apply, and to treat the 30 day figure as the number to plan against rather than the number to push against. Overstaying is a penalty and a paperwork problem at departure, and it is entirely avoidable.
Where Sri Lanka sits among your options
For a Bangladeshi traveler, Sri Lanka is in the second tier of easy: not as frictionless as the region’s genuinely gratis entry, but cheap, online, and quick.
- Nepal’s visa on arrival for Bangladeshis is the useful contrast. Nepal really does extend a gratis tourist visa to SAARC nationals on the first entry in a visa year, which is the arrangement people mistakenly assume Sri Lanka has. Reading the two together makes the distinction stick.
- Our pillar guide to visa-free and visa-on-arrival countries for a Bangladeshi passport sorts every destination by what is actually required.
- Malaysia’s eVisa for Bangladeshis is a step up in documentation and cost.
- The Indian visa for Bangladeshis is worth reading if India was your first choice, because appointment availability there is the constraint that sends many travelers to Sri Lanka in the first place.
- If this is your first trip abroad, work through our first international trip from Bangladesh checklist before you book.
FAQ
Do Bangladeshi citizens need a visa for Sri Lanka?
Yes. Bangladeshi passport holders need an ETA, obtained before travel. Bangladesh does not appear on the Department of Immigration and Emigration’s 40 country free-ETA list effective 25 May 2026.
Is the Sri Lanka ETA free for Bangladeshis?
No. Bangladesh is not on the free list. Bangladeshi travelers are charged from the department’s SAARC column: US$20 for a tourist visa submitted in advance and US$25 on arrival, as published on the department’s fee schedule and read 30 July 2026.
How much is the Sri Lanka ETA for Bangladeshis?
US$20 when submitted by the applicant, at a Sri Lankan overseas mission, or at head office. US$25 on arrival. Non-SAARC nationals pay US$50 and US$60 respectively. Confirm the current schedule before you pay.
What is the official Sri Lanka ETA website?
The Department of Immigration and Emigration at immigration.gov.lk, with the application and fee pages under eta.gov.lk. Sites that offer to obtain your ETA for a service fee are intermediaries.
How long can I stay in Sri Lanka on a tourist ETA?
The tourist authorization is issued for 30 days. Extensions are possible inside Sri Lanka on payment of the applicable fee. Check the current terms when you apply.
Can I get the Sri Lanka visa on arrival instead?
The fee schedule provides for an on-arrival tourist visa at US$25 for SAARC nationals. It costs more than applying in advance and puts you in a queue after a flight, so applying online first is the better choice.
Verified 30 July 2026 against the Sri Lanka Department of Immigration and Emigration’s visa-exemption page and its published ETA fee schedule. Review interval: 90 days. Visa fees, free-country lists and entry conditions in this region change by circular rather than by year. Confirm the current terms at immigration.gov.lk before you book non-refundable travel. This guide is documented process, not immigration advice.