Egypt Guide
Entry requirements
All visitors to Egypt must hold passports that are valid for at least six months beyond the proposed date of entry to the country. Citizens of most countries must also obtain tourist visas.
Regular tourist visas are available from Egyptian embassies abroad. Most nationalities, including British, Irish, Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and all EU citizens, can also obtain visas on arrival at Cairo, Luxor and Hurghada airports. The process is generally painless and cheaper than getting one through an embassy, though note that visas issued at airports are valid for one month only, whereas embassies issue single-visit and multiple-entry visas entitling you to stay in Egypt for three months (the latter allow you to go in and out of the country three times within this period). Visas are not available at overland border crossings, or at Aswan, Suez or Nuweiba (apart from Sinai-only visas – see below).
Getting a standard visa on arrival costs US$17, irrespective of your nationality. The cost of getting a visa in advance of your trip varies according to your nationality, and from place to place. Some consulates may demand that you pay in US dollars instead of local currency, or ask you to supply extra photos. It's wise to allow for all these eventualities.
If you don't mind being limited to Sinai, you can obtain free Sinai-only visas at Taba on the Israeli– Egyptian border, St Catherine's Monastery or Sharm el-Sheikh airport, or the seaports at Sharm el-Sheikh and Nuweiba. Valid for fourteen days only, this visa restricts you to the Aqaba coast down to Sharm el-Sheikh, and the vicinity of St Catherine's; it is not valid for Ras Mohammed, the mountains around St Catherine's (except for Mount Sinai), or any other part of Egypt. It can't be extended, and there's no period of grace for overstaying. Note that neither regular nor Sinai-only visas are available at Rafah, the crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Tourists who overstay their visa are allowed a fifteen-day period of grace in which to renew it or leave the country. After this, they're fined £E104 unless they can present a letter of apology from their embassy (which may well cost more).
Visa extensions cost around £E12, and are obtainable from the Mugamma in Cairo or from passport offices in governorate capitals such as Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, Suez, El-Tor, Mersa Matrouh and Ismailiya (addresses are detailed in the guide). Depending on how long you wish to extend by, and on the whim of the official, you may have to produce exchange or ATM receipts proving that you've cashed sufficient hard currency during your stay, and you'll need to supply one or two photos. Procedures vary slightly from office to office, but shouldn't take longer than an hour outside Cairo.
If you have a single-entry visa and want to leave Egypt and return within the period of its validity, you will need a re-entry visa. Procedures for obtaining these are much the same as for a visa extension, and the cost is around £E50 for one entry, £E60 for two or more.