Luxor4u

BENNU wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote: it is... exempt from the need for a visa for UK, USA and EU visitors...

I have spent enough time among expats in Luxor to know that UK is not Europe but I thought that you guys were still members of the union..?

I'm not a guy so what would I know!

From memory (which does fail all too often) that is how the Egyptian Embassy word it.

I can confirm that we didn't need a Visa for Sharm last month, and we didn't get one when we went out for the day on an organised trip. ( still within the Sinai but well and truly out of the resort of Sharks Bay)

Since Sharm is the main tourist area at the moment, this 5 LE increase is going to have little effect on government coffers, and in my mind, badly timed given the tourist situation..

The main income will be from people on trips from Sinai resorts like Sharm, to Luxor, Aswan or Cairo, who will of course require a single-entry visa. So from that perspective, the increase does make sense.

As far as I'm aware, the Sinai is visa-free as long as you don't leave it during your stay. There might a few exceptions like the Ras Mohammed National Park, but you can certainly go to St. Catherine's with nothing more than maybe a cursory passport check on the last checkpoint outside Sharm.

The actual wording on the Egyptian Consulate in the UK website :

Nationals from UK , EU and USA travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts ONLY, for a maximum of 14 DAYS, do not require a visa prior to travelling as a free entry permission stamp will be granted upon arrival. If they intend to travel outside of the above mentioned areas they MUST obtain a Visa.


For other nationalities see the full information:
http://www.egyptianconsulate.co.uk/visas.php

My first couple of visits, my agent couriered my passport to our capital city to be processed at the Egy embassy, which took a number of weeks. Then I heard on here about buying at the banks; money ready, I get one in a minute or so. Even buying it at the new price on arrival, it's about one third the cost via the agent. No complaints from this little antipodean.

I am just grateful to Keefy for posting this news on Facebook, as I had exactly US$15 left from my last trip, kept in my passport folder for my forthcoming departure Monday week, otherwise I wouldn't have known. A visit to the Travelex ATM yesterday saved me an unknown amount of possible bother at the other end.

Cheers, Keefy!

At $15 it must be one of the cheapest entry visa's in the world! As a regular visitor I'm more than happy to pay it.

Yildez wrote:At $15 it must be one of the cheapest entry visa's in the world! As a regular visitor I'm more than happy to pay it.

Ah! But are you prepared to pay $20? That is the big question. Is it going to stop you from visiting and give you a bad image of Egypt?
(Tongue firmly I cheek)

HEPZIBAH wrote:

Yildez wrote:At $15 it must be one of the cheapest entry visa's in the world! As a regular visitor I'm more than happy to pay it.

Ah! But are you prepared to pay $20? That is the big question. Is it going to stop you from visiting and give you a bad image of Egypt?
(Tongue firmly I cheek)

I will hand over my $20....reluctantly...and with a note pinned to it requesting that the increment be specifically applied to the provision of toilet paper in the airport loos.

The tourist Visa with the increase works out little more than the cost in 2010 as the exchange rates are much higher I think its about £1.50 more.
It does not apply to Sharm unless you travel out of Sinai.

It's a pittance in the great scheme of things, and any tourist who gets put off going to Egypt because of it, well, I won't say what I would really think of them. Egypt needs every piastre we can afford.

HEPZIBAH wrote:
Nationals from UK , EU and USA travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts ONLY, for a maximum of 14 DAYS, do not require a visa prior to travelling as a free entry permission stamp will be granted upon arrival. If they intend to travel outside of the above mentioned areas they MUST obtain a Visa.

Greetings from "La Passage"

My flight from Copenhagen was delayed so I missed my connection to Luxor and have spent some hours here in Cairo . A woman on the plane was going to Sharm el Sheikh and was annoyed that she had to get a visa just to go to this hotel for a few hours. I argued that it was unfair, but she accepted and we got a transfer to this smelly hotel . What provoked us was not so much that she had to buy a visa, it was that noone at immigration believed us, they had never heard of this rule! She just knocked on my door, both our planes leave at 5AM, inshallah. :yawn:

HEPZIBAH wrote:

Yildez wrote:At $15 it must be one of the cheapest entry visa's in the world! As a regular visitor I'm more than happy to pay it.

Ah! But are you prepared to pay $20? That is the big question. Is it going to stop you from visiting and give you a bad image of Egypt?
(Tongue firmly I cheek)

Absolutely not Hepzibah! At $20 it's still cheap in my opinion.

Here in Turkey the Visa system has recently changed. An E-Visa has to be bought online for $20, so a small increase on the previous £10. For the time being those without an E-Visa will still be able to buy one on entry, but the cost will be £20, and by next year all visas will be issued online. There will be on-line kiosks on entry but credit cards will have to be used, no cash accepted. A tourist visa cannot be extended, as it can in Egypt, and the regulations for stays longer than 90 days are both complicated and expensive.

I smile to myself when I read posts about long term visas in Egypt - here you have to provide evidence of up to date health insurance, prove that you have a minimum income of £250 a week, provide a legally notorised rent agreement or the deeds to your property - etc etc etc. Working is illegal without a Work Permit, which is difficult to get as the employer has to prove he can't employ a Turk to do the job, and if you're caught you're deported the next day and banned from re-entering Turkey for 5 years.

BENNU wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote:
Nationals from UK , EU and USA travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts ONLY, for a maximum of 14 DAYS, do not require a visa prior to travelling as a free entry permission stamp will be granted upon arrival. If they intend to travel outside of the above mentioned areas they MUST obtain a Visa.

Greetings from "La Passage"

My flight from Copenhagen was delayed so I missed my connection to Luxor and have spent some hours here in Cairo . A woman on the plane was going to Sharm el Sheikh and was annoyed that she had to get a visa just to go to this hotel for a few hours. I argued that it was unfair, but she accepted and we got a transfer to this smelly hotel . What provoked us was not so much that she had to buy a visa, it was that noone at immigration believed us, they had never heard of this rule! She just knocked on my door, both our planes leave at 5AM, inshallah. :yawn:

I've often wondered what the situation was for 'persons in transit'. I've sort of assumed that if they are delayed and remain at the airport airside then they would not require a visa but if they chose to leave the airport, e.g go on a sight seeing tour for the day, then they would require a visa. It may come down to the choice (was choice given?) of spending x hours in the transfer departure lounge (holding pen) at Cairo airport or the comforts of a hotel.

Returning from Luxor to the UK I was once delayed at Cairo for more than 8 hours - it may have been more like 12 hours, I can't remember now. I was not given the option to go to a hotel (I discovered later that passengers who had arrived at Cairo later than me had been transferred to a hotel and had a lovely day by the pool) and my passport was held for the whole time. I even had to beg for a voucher for a drink - not so much as a cup of water was offered or available in the waiting area. Thankfully, Egyptair/BMI made up for it when I was, to my great surprise, given an upgrade on the London flight.

Yildez wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote:

Yildez wrote:At $15 it must be one of the cheapest entry visa's in the world! As a regular visitor I'm more than happy to pay it.

Ah! But are you prepared to pay $20? That is the big question. Is it going to stop you from visiting and give you a bad image of Egypt?
(Tongue firmly I cheek)

Absolutely not Hepzibah! At $20 it's still cheap in my opinion.

Absolutely agree!

newcastle wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote:

Yildez wrote:At $15 it must be one of the cheapest entry visa's in the world! As a regular visitor I'm more than happy to pay it.

Ah! But are you prepared to pay $20? That is the big question. Is it going to stop you from visiting and give you a bad image of Egypt?
(Tongue firmly I cheek)

I will hand over my $20....reluctantly...and with a note pinned to it requesting that the increment be specifically applied to the provision of toilet paper in the airport loos.

Ah! Now I'm sure that toilet paper in the airport loos is a sensitive issue (unlike the newspapers some people use for same purpose) but it's a different department or company or ministry. If anyone is that worried about it though I'm sure they could get to the bottom of it. )

I hear that the new reproduction Tutankhamuns' Tomb opens in a couple of days that should bring in a few visa's..

Considering virtually no one is entering the country this end for hols, they could offer free entry in an attempt to persuade visitors, but I doubt that even that would be encouraging. A 360 degree turn in events may work better. Then they could literally charge what they wanted.

Only a couple of days to go, one of the team taking a break...

Photo©Ferdinand Saumarez Smith

BENNU wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote:
Nationals from UK , EU and USA travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts ONLY, for a maximum of 14 DAYS, do not require a visa prior to travelling as a free entry permission stamp will be granted upon arrival. If they intend to travel outside of the above mentioned areas they MUST obtain a Visa.

Greetings from "La Passage"

My flight from Copenhagen was delayed so I missed my connection to Luxor and have spent some hours here in Cairo . A woman on the plane was going to Sharm el Sheikh and was annoyed that she had to get a visa just to go to this hotel for a few hours. I argued that it was unfair, but she accepted and we got a transfer to this smelly hotel . What provoked us was not so much that she had to buy a visa, it was that noone at immigration believed us, they had never heard of this rule! She just knocked on my door, both our planes leave at 5AM, inshallah. :yawn:

To transfer from International to Domestic at Cairo you would require a visa. Nothing to do with going to a hotel. (IMHO)

Brian Yare wrote:

BENNU wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote:
Nationals from UK , EU and USA travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts ONLY, for a maximum of 14 DAYS, do not require a visa prior to travelling as a free entry permission stamp will be granted upon arrival. If they intend to travel outside of the above mentioned areas they MUST obtain a Visa.

Greetings from "La Passage"

My flight from Copenhagen was delayed so I missed my connection to Luxor and have spent some hours here in Cairo . A woman on the plane was going to Sharm el Sheikh and was annoyed that she had to get a visa just to go to this hotel for a few hours. I argued that it was unfair, but she accepted and we got a transfer to this smelly hotel . What provoked us was not so much that she had to buy a visa, it was that noone at immigration believed us, they had never heard of this rule! She just knocked on my door, both our planes leave at 5AM, inshallah. :yawn:

To transfer from International to Domestic at Cairo you would require a visa. Nothing to do with going to a hotel. (IMHO)

Even if you are air-side the whole time?