Oriental Cruises

To enter Egypt you do require an Egypt Visa, which is valid for three months. The Egypt Entry Visa or Egypt tourist visa can be obtained in one of two ways:
By applying to the Arab Republic of Egypt Embassy, or Consulate, in your own country, or
At your Port of Entry into Egypt.

To apply for your visa, or to get one upon arrival, you must have a valid passport with more than six months left on it before it expires. Once purchased it is a simple matter of peeling off the backing paper and sticking the visa onto an empty page in your passport (please ensure this is done before passport control or you may be sent to the end of the queue).

PLEASE NOTE:  If you are staying in a South Sinai resort for 14 days, or less, you may be exempt from requiring a visa, as long as you stay in that locale (no visits to Cairo or Luxor, for example). See full lists at the bottom of the page.

If you wish to stay for longer than three months, you can get your visa extended at the Visa Department of the Travel Documents, Immigration and Nationality Administration (TDINA), known locally as Mogamma.  This massive building can easily be found on one side of Tahrir Square in Downtown Cairo. Other major cities, in Egypt, also have offices which allow you to extend your visa:

• Alexandria: 28 Talaat Harb St. Intersection of El Falaky St., Raml Station, Alexandria
• Aswan: Corniche El Nil St., El Corniche
• Hurghada: Sharia an-Nasr, Ad-Dahar. Locally known as Gawazat
• Luxor: Khalid Ibn Walid St. opposite the Steigenberger Hotel.
• Sharm El Sheikh: The Amn Dawla office in Old Sharm El Sheikh, or El Tor passport office

To get your extended visa you will need:

• 1. Your passport
• 2. 2 passport photos
• 3. 2 copies of the pages in your passport that have (1) your photo and (2) your stamped entry visa, on them.

Extended visas can be purchased for one month to one year, though you may be asked why you wish to extend your stay. Remember: you are NOT allowed to work in Egypt with only a tourist visa!

Citizens of the following countries CAN get their tourist visa upon arrival:

• The USA, UK and EU member states, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Georgia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Macedonia, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Serbia, and Ukraine

• Recently there has been a lot of talk about citizens of China and India being allowed to get their visas upon arrival, but there seems to be definitive answer as of yet. Therefore it is advised that any visitors from these countries check with the Arab Republic of Egypt Embassy, or Consulate, in their own country, before travelling.

Citizens of the following countries CANNOT get their tourist visa upon arrival and so have to apply via the Arab Republic of Egypt Embassy, or Consulate, in their own country:

• Iran, Tunisia, Somalia, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan (non-residents in the UK), Djibouti, Mauritania, Comoros, Burundi, Rwanda, Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, Niger, Chad, Israel, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Moldova, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Citizens of the following countries do not require a visa prior to travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts, as long as they do not leave the locale. They are for a maximum of 14 days only:

• 1. All European Union countries
• 2. USA
• 3. Israel (but ONLY through the Taba Border Crossing.