jason8612

I'll be transiting and visiting CMB a few times as a mileage run.

First time, I am transiting thru (less than 8hrs) on my way to MLE. It seems for pax with onward ticket with less than 8hrs, nothing is needed.
second time I will be transiting via CMB but on seperate tickets (with only about 4hrs in between flights). I'm not sure if the under 8hr rule will apply, or if I will need a visa.
third time I am staying overnight in CMB (under 48hrs)
forth time I am also staying a few days in CMB (over 48hrs)

I was wondering, does anyone have any experience with the visas? Can one hold a transit visa and a tourist double entry visa? What if I show up without an ETA and am under the 48hrs? I'm trying to figure the visa issue out.

quarryking

As for Trip1, if it’s all one 1 ticket all the way to MLE then you wouldn’t need a visa

Trip 2 : transiting via CMB but on seperate tickets (with only about 4hrs in between flights) - You would need a visa for this and you could apply online for the “tourist double entry visa”, as you’d need to clear immigration, collect bags, exit the terminal, walk to departures again and re-check in for the next flight. Provided your incoming flight is on time, 4 hours is do-able.

Trip 3: staying overnight in CMB (under 48hrs) – You can use the same visa from earlier to enter provided it’s not more than 30 days between Trip 2 & 3

Trip 4: staying a few days in CMB (over 48hrs) – You’d need to apply for another Tourist visa for this. Not too sure about the transit visa option.

Online application for the visa is pretty fast and is normally cleared in a few hours time.

wandering_fred

Depends on whether you can get the luggage checked through or not.
There is a transit desk that should be able to issue the onward boarding pass.

The under 48 hour (transit) visas are very simple to obtain online. The hardest part for me in the past was finding a reliable internet connect while traveling in some countries. This is not to say that the standard tourist visa (>48 hour version) is complicated. It's not.

Happy wandering

Fred

jason8612

Thanks both for the advise. It seems easy enough and it's a relief to hear that they process so quickly.

cesco.g

I have somebody, who will stay for < 48 hrs in Colombo. She got a Transit Visa. Her flights have her arriving day1 evening and departing day2 late evening. She will have ticket/confirmation for her onward flight, but she will not be checked in already at the time of arrival, so she will not be able to produce an onward boarding pass. She has a hotel reservation for the night of day1.

Question:
Is she ok with the Transit Visa?
or
Does she need a Tourist Visa?

wandering_fred

When using the transit visa, I have never been asked where I was going or what I was doing. Though the two day limit has been mentioned.

Happy wandering


Fred

TheSYDTraveller

Hi Fred. Does this mean that they don't care which airline you're arriving on and departing on. As long as you transit within the two day period you're okay?

I'm flying in to CMB on QR 2AM and departing 12AM on MH. I hope a transit visa would be sufficient.

wandering_fred

I would think so - That's a 22 hour stop?
I'll see shortly as I have (another) 36 hour stop ticketed.

Happy wandering

Fred

quarryking

Have transited on 2 different carriers without any problem in the past.

cesco.g

Feedback:
Friend entered on transit visa; was asked by customs officer, where going/transiting to.
Produced copy of one night hotel reservation (beach hotel in Negombo) > pp stamped > ready to go. Copy of airline reservation was not asked for. Stayed in country for some 24 hrs, then travelled on.
Thx all for the valuable tips!

littlevoices

Anyone got any views on whether I could get away with a transit visa for this (typically you wouldn't I expect,but from a bit of reading on-line it seems feasible)

I'm flying HKG- CMB on a positioning flight. Subsequently flying out about 36 hours later CMB-HKG (separate tickets). I've also just realised my first flight is HKG-BKK-CMB//CMB-HKG... so that one I'd feel comfortable claiming a transit (since they will only see the BKK-CMB-HKG part), unless anyone thinks otherwise?

I will likely be doing this twice in a few months, and then another few months later actually spending 10 days in the country. This wouldn't be a problem to get a tourist visa, but since they are not valid for long periods of time and multiple entries it would start to add up (i.e. 3x the tourist visa fee).

Basic plan is to arrive, head into town for a hotel, next day to explore/relax, dinner then fly back to HKG on one of the early morning flights.

quarryking

Well your Regular Tourist Visa entitles you to a Double Entry. The second entry has to be no later than a month from the exit of your first trip. Not sure how long the transit visa entitles you to stay in the country, but you could try for one on landing there. In case, they say you need a regualr visa, you can always pick one up there itself at the airport.

dsquared37

Transit visa is 48 hours. If you apply online, give flight info and they issue the visa (for me in 5 min on separate itins) then you're golden.

ORDPLATAA

Just did this last weekend and the Immigration Officer wasn't thrilled. I had applied online for a Transit Visa. I arrived CMB on UL from BKK at 11:00am and was departing at 8:55pm to Doha. He did not consider this a "transit" as I was on two separate tickets and wasn't able to get printed BP's for the CMB-DOH leg in advance. He also didn't understand why I would be flying BKK-CMB-DOH-PHL when there were other options. He was insistent that I should have paid for a visa - and I asked if this could be done at the VOA counter as I would be happy to do that. He finally relented and just put the sticker in my passport and called it a day.

I have the return leg PHL-DOH-CMB arriving early in the afternoon on QR then connecting at 9:20pm on a CMB-AUH-JFK flight (separate tickets). Now my question is - do I still need a transit visa and can I check-in online with EY and get an electronic or paper boarding pass? Was planning on using the transit hotel to get a little shut-eye. Not much around the airport worth hanging out to see (Negombo was a big disappointment).

dsquared37

I had a very similar flight schedule connecting to the CMB-DOH-PHL flight in April but a 4PM arrival had me staying in the airport until I could get BPs from the transfer counter. On the return however, 10AM in/midnight out, two separate tix, had no problem using my transit visa. Apparently YMMV.