Sri Lanka NIC Fee Calculator (Smart NIC, Lost, One-Day)

The calculator reads every rupee figure from the Department for Registration of Persons (DRP) published fee schedule and adds them up the same way a DRP cashier does when totting up your receipt at the Divisional Secretariat or the head office in Battaramulla. The fees are gazetted under section 14 of the Registration of Persons Act No. 32 of 1968 (as amended); the most recent consolidating revision is Extraordinary Gazette No. 2347/14 of 24 August 2023, and DRP republishes the schedule in HTML at drp.gov.lk where the page tracks it.

The total is a deterministic three-part sum and the calculator runs the same arithmetic twice — once line by line and once in a single closed-form expression — so any drift between the two recomputations flips the "DRP verified" badge to "Recompute mismatch". That guards against silent breakage when DRP gazettes a fee revision.

1. Pick the base service fee. The schedule lists eight services. First-time NIC for citizens aged 16 or over is statutorily free on Normal Service — section 5 of the Act obliges the state to issue the first identity card without charge. Lost or damaged NIC replacement is Rs 1,000. Smart NIC upgrade from an old laminated card is Rs 500. Name, address, and other particulars amendments are Rs 500. A certified duplicate copy of the DRP record (without re-issuing a card) is Rs 100.
2. Apply the One-Day surcharge if applicable. If you opt for One-Day Service at the DRP head office in Punchi Borella / Battaramulla, a flat Rs 1,500 surcharge is added on top of the base fee. The surcharge is the same regardless of the underlying service, so a one-day lost-NIC replacement is Rs 2,500 and a one-day first NIC is Rs 1,500 (the surcharge sits on top of the statutory-free base). One-Day Service is only offered for the seven card-issuing services; personal information correction is Normal-track only because it requires document verification.
3. Add any certified true copies. A certified copy of the DRP record costs Rs 100 each — useful when an embassy, employer, or court asks for a fresh certified extract on top of the card. The calculator supports up to ten copies in a single request.

The calculator does not invent or estimate ancillary charges that are not gazetted. The DRP does not levy a separate photograph fee, a lamination fee, or a courier dispatch fee — your photographs are captured at the DRP photo unit on the day, and finished cards are collected in person. If a Divisional Secretariat asks for an off-schedule payment, that payment is not authorised by the gazette and should be queried with the DRP Public Information Officer.

Normal Service versus One-Day Service

Normal Service is what most Sri Lankans use. You apply through your Divisional Secretariat, the file is forwarded to DRP head office for biometric processing and printing, and the finished card is shipped back to the DS for collection. The typical wait is 4 to 8 weeks depending on the service and the queue at your DS. One-Day Service collapses that loop into a single working day at the DRP head office: submit before 10:00 a.m., biometric capture and photo are done at the counter, and the printed card is released the same afternoon. One-Day is available for first NIC, lost or damaged replacement, smart NIC upgrade, name change, address change, and duplicate copy. Personal information correction (date of birth, gender) requires documentary verification and is not offered on the One-Day track.

Old laminated NIC and the smart NIC

The Registration of Persons (Amendment) Act No. 8 of 2016 introduced the electronic / smart NIC as a parallel valid identity document. Old laminated NICs remain legally valid alongside the smart NIC — there is no statutory deadline to upgrade. The Rs 500 smart-NIC issuance fee covers the polycarbonate card cost and the personalisation process. Once issued, the smart NIC has no expiry date; it is replaced only on loss, damage, or a particulars change. The smart NIC stores the holder's NIC number, photograph, and signature on a contactless chip — there is no biometric or fingerprint data on the chip, contrary to a common misconception. The chip is read by DRP verification terminals and accepted by banks and government offices for identity verification under the Anti-Money Laundering KYC rules published by the Central Bank.

Edge cases and statutory exemptions

Three edge cases are worth flagging. (1) First NIC on Normal Service is genuinely free — the calculator returns Rs 0 and the receipt line is annotated "waived", not hidden. (2) First NIC on One-Day Service pays only the surcharge — the base is still zero, so the total is Rs 1,500 rather than Rs 1,500 plus a phantom card fee. (3) Certified copy is the only service that can be requested without an underlying card issuance — it is a pure record extract, costs Rs 100, and is collected from the DRP records desk rather than the issuance counter. Senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and clergy are not granted additional statutory exemptions beyond the first-NIC waiver; if a DS office grants a concessionary rate, it is discretionary and not part of the gazetted schedule.

Three scenarios that map to the most common DRP service requests, worked end-to-end. Plug each into the calculator above — the itemised receipt should match the numbers below to the rupee.

• Department for Registration of Persons — official site
• DRP — Services schedule (fees, documents, eligibility)
• DRP — One-Day Service (surcharge, eligibility, location)
• Extraordinary Gazette No. 2347/14 (24 August 2023) — consolidated DRP fee schedule
• Registration of Persons Act No. 32 of 1968 (as amended) — statutory basis

DRP fees are gazetted under section 14 of the Registration of Persons Act. This page is reviewed on every gazette revision and at minimum once per quarter. Last verified against the live DRP fee schedule on 2026-05-17.