Luxor4u

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.

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!

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

This woman had gone from Cairo International to Domestic many times without a visa to Sharm.
I have read somewhere that going to a hotel on an international transit, you have to leave your passport at the airport. They could have asked her to do that.

I once was supposed to board an international flight from Cairo to Beirut. We had gone through passport control and had therefore been stamped with departure stamps when the flight was called off until the morning due to the bad weather in Beirut. They took all our passports away from us and sent us to a nearby hotel until the morning.

Glyphdoctor wrote:I once was supposed to board an international flight from Cairo to Beirut. We had gone through passport control and had therefore been stamped with departure stamps when the flight was called off until the morning due to the bad weather in Beirut. They took all our passports away from us and sent us to a nearby hotel until the morning.

Similar experience - I got stuck in Moscow for a few days many years ago . We were all herded onto a bus and taken to a hotel and our passports confiscated. Our passports were not given back until we were about to re-enter the airport the day we could leave. On the plus side, they did herd us on to a bus one day and gave us a sight seeing tour of Moscow but there definitely no chance of getting off the bus to stretch our legs or taking any photo's.

Brian is correct, you need a visa to leave International, you have to pass through Immigration and Customs, having done so you are 'land-side' and free to leave the airport/transfer terminals/go upstairs to Domestic, etc. It is a different scenario obviously from being merely 'in-transit' through an airport in one country, and travelling to another.

Alistair1967 wrote:Brian is correct, you need a visa to leave International, you have to pass through Immigration and Customs, having done so you are 'land-side' and free to leave the airport/transfer terminals/go upstairs to Domestic, etc. It is a different scenario obviously from being merely 'in-transit' through an airport in one country, and travelling to another.

In that case this woman I met must have been lying, that she had done it several times and only because Egyptair send us to a hotel, she suddenly needed a visa.

As we have discussed 1.000.000 times here, you can go from International to Domestic without passing thorough customs. So Brian is not correct that this had nothing to do with going to a hotel.

The UK government website now says:

"Latest update: Entry requirements section - from 1 May 2014 the visa fee will be US$25".

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt

Have they got it wrong?

Brian Yare wrote:The UK government website now says:

"Latest update: Entry requirements section - from 1 May 2014 the visa fee will be US$25".

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt

Have they got it wrong?

I thought that the above may have been referring to purchase in advance, no arrival, but having just checked the Egyptian Consulate website - which has been updated - I'm not convinced.

http://www.egyptianconsulate.co.uk/Article.php?id=79

I read this figure somewhere else too. I think it was a quote from the minster of tourism or somesuch.

12 British pounds is $20, so for some countries, that makes sense.

Looking at the Egyptian Embassy in DC page, I see that the prices have not been updated. Americans are still listed at $15. But UK citizens it says $20, so if it is being increased it definitely needs to be going higher than that for British citizens and adding $5 would get the $25 figure, but 20 pounds is about $33, a which is a lot more than I have seen anywhere. But have Brits always paid more than Americans?

Glyphdoctor wrote:I read this figure somewhere else too. I think it was a quote from the minster of tourism or somesuch.

12 British pounds is $20, so for some countries, that makes sense.

Looking at the Egyptian Embassy in DC page, I see that the prices have not been updated. Americans are still listed at $15. But UK citizens it says $20, so if it is being increased it definitely needs to be going higher than that for British citizens and adding $5 would get the $25 figure, but 20 pounds is about $33, a which is a lot more than I have seen anywhere. But have Brits always paid more than Americans?

I've never really paid that much notice to the pre-purchase visa prices but thought that the British and Americans paid the same. Certainly, the visa on arrival, was printed and priced at $15 and the British have paid that either in USD or in Sterling at the days USD/GBP exchange rate (for a long time =/- £10) .

At today's rate $25 = £14-86 (approx).

It's curious to me also that for visa in advance Germans will pay £13 but eg French will pay £20 like the British. I thought they were both Euro currency countries so you'd expect the same rate surely!

Could it be that Visa's on arrival are going to be at various different rates as they are in some other countries?

Just seen the latest news from the UK foreign office.

"visas $25 from the 1st" may

HEPZIBAH wrote:It's curious to me also that for visa in advance Germans will pay £13 but eg French will pay £20 like the British. I thought they were both Euro currency countries so you'd expect the same rate surely!

The United Kingdom is not a Euro currency country.

Brian Yare wrote:

HEPZIBAH wrote:It's curious to me also that for visa in advance Germans will pay £13 but eg French will pay £20 like the British. I thought they were both Euro currency countries so you'd expect the same rate surely!

The United Kingdom is not a Euro currency country.

Gosh! Really? Obviously my wording what not as simple as it needed to be. For anyone that is confused by my comment I was lumping the Germans and French into the Euro currency countries - NOT the United Kingdom!

I may have been guilty of misreading you, but the wording was not crystal clear. Sorry.

It would appear that some news reports got the figure wrong. The new price would indeed seem to be $25

every time I fly from Manchester to luxor via Cairo, I have to go through passport control and show my visa to carry on to domestic flights. Same flying from Luxor - Cairo - Manchester

Interesting fact, Bennu about the Brits not being Europeans but also very correct, we were not given the vote on Europe it was the stupid politicians that took us into the European Quango of corruption and deceit. 90% of Brits will tell you we are British not Europeans, but going on a little forward there may be a new State forming, hope the flag has enough room for an extra star!

I thought we had a referendum about joining the EEC as it was then and an overwhelming majority voted to join. I was not one who did.

Were you Europeans before EEC - before the union?

We were European exactly like Egyptians are Africans.
An insular little island giving thanks for the "English Channel" I still believe that a lot of Brits even today don't really think they are European.