New visa ruling for single women

[newcastle]

Posted by John Kenny, honorary UK consul for Hurghada.

‎John Kenny‎ to Visa regulations for foreigners residing in Egypt
12 mins ·
Passport office confirm that single women who wish to travel to HRG must first apply for a visa at the Egyptian embassy in London. Failure to comply could result in being refused entry.
The embassy are looking into this ruling with lmmigration officials in Cairo. When they have some news l will post it


A bit odd if it only applies to Hurghada.....but then, this is Egypt

I will look out for any updates.

[HEPZIBAH]

Is it April 1st again?

[HEPZIBAH]

The more I think about the post as worded, the more questions I come up with!

Do passports state your marital status?

Is it just a reference to 'married to an Egyptian'? After all, many married women travel alone. They are married, not single!

Can it really only be a rule applied to Brits or is applied to all single women, regardless of nationality?

I shall be watching this space with interest. It's not going to affect my life unduly, even though I'm single, but I do find the whole idea very interesting!

[newcastle]

The more I think about the post as worded, the more questions I come up with!

Do passports state your marital status?

Is it just a reference to 'married to an Egyptian'? After all, many married women travel alone. They are married, not single!

Can it really only be a rule applied to Brits or is applied to all single women, regardless of nationality?

I shall be watching this space with interest. It's not going to affect my life unduly, even though I'm single, but I do find the whole idea very interesting!

I find the whole idea bizarre!

Hopefully, some clarification will be forthcoming soon or a lot of single women flying from UK to Egypt are potentially faced with a problem if they rely on "visa on arrival".

Funnily enough, a lady I know, travelling alone on an Irish passport from London, had this very issue flying to Hurghada on 31st August. And she's married to an Egyptian!

After some discussion she was allowed to travel.....but it didn't do her blood pressure any good! This is when I first heard about the new "ruling"...but assumed it was some nincompoop at the UK airport end.

She flew with Egyptair from Heathrow and I suspect the issue is one created by Egyptair and unique to them, and is only for travelers without a return ticket...but we'll see.

[DJKeefy]

Probably Egypt trying to get back at the UK for something they think we have done wrong to them, maybe not enough planes its a wonder they have not banned all Americans due to them not receiving some aid they thought was due

[carrie]

As I understand from speaking to people you have no problem if you have a return ticket to the UK. Watch this space I'm looking for a hubby.

[HEPZIBAH]

As I understand from speaking to people you have no problem if you have a return ticket to the UK. Watch this space I'm looking for a hubby.

I just came back with another thought, but it looks like Carrie has sort of beaten me to it.

What if you are single, living in Egypt as a long term tourist, and need to do the visa run? Does it mean if you are a Brit you have to go back to the UK and apply at the consulate in London?

I'm no Brain of Britain, so if I can think up the questions, which point out the problems, why can't someone in authority think them up too.

[DJKeefy]

Posted by Ann Murphy, 5 September at 17:13 in the Visa regulations for foreigners residing in Egypt group.

I came back to Egypt on the 31st Aug, having left Egypt 7 weeks previously for the yearly visa re-entry. I had a return ticket from Hurghada, but when I got to check-in at Heathrow I was told that I had to have a return ticket to England. New legislation states that 'single' women are no longer able to travel to Egypt unless they have a return ticket and a visa. However, when I told her I was married to an Egyptian and that I had my contract with me, everything was fine. This new ruling only came into force last week. If I didn't always carry my marriage papers with me I could not have entered and would have had to buy my visa first too. Anyone else had this problem? Not sure if it was a ruling from Egypt or the UK?

[newcastle]

From the anecdotal evidence I've seen.....it's only flights with Egyptair that seem to be involved.

Some years ago, there was a loosely applied requirement to have a return, or onward, ticket when flying to Egypt from UK......unless you could display a valid visa. I had one of my trips queried on these grounds and had an argument at the airport over it. Eventually I was allowed to fly.

The issue for the airline is whether you'll be allowed entry on arriving at Egypt because, if you aren't, for some technicality they should have been aware of, it's their responsibility to get you back.

Egypt was intending to switch to e-visas and I wonder whether this current "issue" is something to do with that and whether Egyptair have 'jumped the gun'.

Still doesn't explain why single women would be targeted ...or indeed how they know if a woman is "single". Again, I wonder whether the information has got garbled and what they mean is "single trips" i.e. one-way flights.

[carrie]

A friend bought a ticket with T Cook into Hurghada and it said on the bottom of the ticket that she needed a return ticket when she queried it with T Cook they said she would be OK without one, when she arrived in Hurghada nothing was said to her.
Dusak I would be marrying your fiance if I were you.

[newcastle]

We've all heard the stories of young Mohamed marrying middle-aged Ethel , primarily to secure a visa for himself to travel to Europe or the UK.

Maybe we'll see a new "trend".....Ethels ( of any age) marrying Mohamed (of any age) in order to secure permission for a one-way ticket to Egypt

There's a business opportunity there somewhere

[carrie]

Well I'm looking, any offers

[Dusak]

A friend bought a ticket with T Cook into Hurghada and it said on the bottom of the ticket that she needed a return ticket when she queried it with T Cook they said she would be OK without one, when she arrived in Hurghada nothing was said to her.
Dusak I would be marrying your fiance if I were you.

Funny you should say that as my decree absolute came this morning. So a BE wedding could be on the cards, as a new home could be, and **** the lot of 'em.

[carrie]

Would give you more than one like Dusak but I can't, congratulations. Saving up for the hat again.

[HEPZIBAH]

Would give you more than one like Dusak but I can't, congratulations. Saving up for the hat again.

Have hat. Will travel.

Oh botheration! I'm a single woman ...

[John Landon]

Maybe its an attempt by the Egyptian Authorities to stamp out prostitution ? it is, so I am told quite prevalent in Hurghada.
Lets face it, these people do not have the same lifestyle we do, and they will naturally make assumptions.
After all, whenever I travel on my own in Egypt, the men naturally assume I am gay.

[newcastle]

A friend bought a ticket with T Cook into Hurghada and it said on the bottom of the ticket that she needed a return ticket when she queried it with T Cook they said she would be OK without one, when she arrived in Hurghada nothing was said to her.
Dusak I would be marrying your fiance if I were you.

Funny you should say that as my decree absolute came this morning. So a BE wedding could be on the cards, as a new home could be, and **** the lot of 'em.

Sorry....have to ask.....what's a "BE wedding" ?

[Horus]

I wondered that too, but came to the conclusion it meant British/Egyptian wedding?

[newcastle]

Posted a few mins ago by a lady on the FB visa site :

"I visited EgyptAir to clarify what's happening because I will travel with them to London on 18th returning to Hurghada on 28th. They confirmed they will be checking for "return tickets". They also explained to me that in my case I have a return ticket from Hurghada and back to Hurghada. However they went on to tell me their check in is monitored by Egyptian immigration and the visa could be an issue if I'm travelling alone. I have therefore been to Gawazat to obtain a re-entry. If it's only Egyptair who are doing this then for sure they will lose a lot of business because next time I will just fly with another airline. "

[newcastle]

Posted by ‎Jan Davidson‎ to Visa regulations for foreigners residing in Egypt
Approx 10pm Sat 9th Sept 2017.

"Don't know if this is helpful but I have just had a long telephone conversation with a friend of mine who works for Egyptair at Heathrow airport regarding the issue of 'single women travelling to Hurghada'. He told me the following:

Egyptair staff at Heathrow have received no directive from any government or aviation authority in Cairo to prevent 'single women' travelling to Hurghada or anywhere else in the country.
It has always been the law that visitors to Egypt have an ongoing/return ticket and now they have been told they must implement this rule and that it applies to all EU and American passport holders, regardless of gender and in part, this is the result of persistent overstaying of visas. Other airlines have received the same instruction.
If you live in Egypt and leave the country, so that your return ticket is back to Egypt, then proof that you live in Egypt will suffice.

Accepted documents include
Marriage licence, including court stamped green orfi paper.
Court stamped property rental contract (most of us probably have one of these by now).
Property / business ownership papers
Work permit
Egyptian driving licence
Birth certificate of children born in Egypt
I have been to the USA 22 times and have always had to show a return ticket before being allowed to board, so these rules are not unheard of!
I hope this is useful"

Whether airlines (other than Egyptair) do indeed apply these rules....we'll see!