Egypt to scrap visa on arrival for foreigners

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If this goes through then its the latest in a line of idiotic decisions.

Egypt to end visas on arrival for all foreign tourists as of May 15 | Cairo Post

IF it goes ahead (i doubt it will) it means EVERY visitor will have to get a visa in advance from a consulate or embassy unless they use an Egyptian travel company.

Firstly the chaos and workload this will cripple the places that aren't exactly efficient at the best of times. It'll remove the "last minute holiday" deals as well. I can see a lot of people not bothering.

This military junta seems capable of always doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

If it's introduced, its a spectacular own goal!

(other outlets are reporting it too).

 
The information given here above is only partly correct and applies for individual travei . In other words if you book flight only you'll need the advance visa.


Package Tourists ( who are the wast majority of visitors from Europe and Russia ) arriving Egypt will still get their visa from the tour operators local representative. I usually travel to Egypt with a German TO like L'TUR, TUI, Thomas Cook ... and they use the Egyptian travel agent TRAVCO as their representative.


TRAVCO would obtain the clearance and their staff will issue the visa on arrival ( very much the same way they have been doing in the past )

More to follow on this subject as I will be seeing my local last minute shop L'TUR tomorrow.

Consulate General of the Arab Republic of Egypt in UK - EgyptianConsulate.co.uk

Visa Requirements | Embassy of Egypt, Washington DC
 
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You can always come to Dahab. No visa required for South Sinai for trips under 14 days.. easy.
 
I don't know why this law would be introduced - possibly there's a financial incentive (by which I mean bribe) for the travel companies to ensure that visitors to Egypt have to book through certain agencies.

There's a part of me that can semi-understand as in it makes life easier for package tourists who form the bulk of Egyptian holidaymakers these days, but it will put off a lot of people from travelling there because if you take the time to look around, there are much less inexpensive ways of getting to Egypt and paying the visa on arrival.

I miss my time there, I really do, but there are reasons we all left!

C.
 
Pretty stupid for sure, I usually don't have time to sort out visa's, it's bad enough dealing with Saudi Arabia in the region but they are fairly fast if I send my passport to their UK embassy. Not sure how quick the Egyptian Embassy will be here in UAE.
 
However - it appears that somebody in the Egyptian authorities has seen a bit of sense:

Egypt retracts decision to ban visas upon arrival | Cairo Post

Looks like their scrapping the scrapping of the VOA.... and making it an online application. I like this idea; although I had a working visa, the chaos involved in 300 people all trying to get a visa at the airport at the same time was nightmarish1
 

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