Egypt Now Requires Visa in Advance (Except Certain Tour Groups)

Check out our Top Rewards Cards to boost your points earning and travel more!


Egypt has stopped issuing visas on arrival for individual travelers, reports Travel Weekly. There is an exception for “tourist groups travelling with and sponsored by Egyptian Tour operators.”

The Egypt Embassy in Washington, DC confirms this, noting that applications take 10 business days to process, plus mailing time. Same from US State Department.

a rocky mountain with the sun shining

This will bite some travelers in the rear and as word gets around will likely deal another heavy blow to Egypt’s slowly recovering tourist industry. Given the murderers on the rampage in the region it is hard to fault Egyptian authorities for tightening things, though a lot of Egyptians dependent on tourism for their livelihoods will be hurt more than the tourists are inconvenienced.

I toured Egypt in January, don’t look for the posts as I am way behind. I had a fabulous time, visiting Mt Sinai, Port Said, Alexandria, El-Alamein, Luxor, Dendera, Abydos, Sohag and Cairo. Welcoming people and tremendous value for the tourist.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

13 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Eric
Eric
9 years ago

Update – arrived into CAI via AUH on 01 April 2015 at 2 AM. Was able to purchase visa on arrival no problem.

Brian Cohen
9 years ago

I am scheduled to leave for Cairo from Abu Dhabi via Bahrain on May 25, Jon — but I have not booked my flights as of yet.

I did book my lodging arrangements, however.

Stefan, that is a good point. I cannot imagine the officials in Egypt giving a difficult time to visitors during May. I am already expecting a hard time from the “touts” as this will be my first time visiting Egypt…

Farnorthtrader
Farnorthtrader
9 years ago

We have air tickets and hotels reservations for June, so I have been working on ways around having to send our passports to an Egyptian embassy for a couple of weeks (they have advised 10 business days processing plus shipping for the embassy in Ottawa). I have been in contact with a few tourism companies in Egypt and they all seem quite sure that they can arrange visas for the six of us if we use them for airport ground transportation plus a couple of their day tours. Not terribly expensive (although I am sure more than DIY) so we… Read more »

Eric
Eric
9 years ago

Oh shoot! I hope they don’t start requiring the visa before arrival until 15 May. We leave this Friday for the Maldives and then, on our way back home, are swinging by Egypt for a few days. No way I can apply for a visa before today (Monday) and our departure (Friday).

Aaron Hurd
9 years ago

Yeah. Got in just under the wire on that one. Sucks for people who are traveling very soon to Egypt. Fortunately, the Egypt visa is relatively easy, straightforward, and cheap. It surprises me that they would be doing something that seems to actively discourage tourists.

Owen
Owen
9 years ago

I missed this one too – thanks for the heads up. My wife and I are traveling to Cairo next month.

Joey
Joey
9 years ago

Ok thanks! I thought it was supposed to start in May but I guess they expedited it.
I go to Egypt once a year (was just there in Feb) so I hope to apply for a multientry visa. Fingers crossed the visa will last 10 years!

Jon
Jon
9 years ago

I thought that Visa on Arrival would be available until May 15th. Brian – were you traveling in the next few days? I am leaving the US today and was planning to return from Cairo. Today I see that Timatic & the Egyptian embassy make no mention of VOA yet when I called DC this morning, they said it is still available until May 15th. I’m not sure who to believe.

Can a “group tour” for visa purposes just be 1 or 2 people? I wonder if there is a list of operators that we can use.

Brian Cohen
9 years ago

I did not.

Point Princess
9 years ago

I made it just in time!