Egypt has been all over the place the past few years when it comes to their visa policies. More than once they’ve announced changes to their visa program, only to postpone them in the end. The strange thing is that the country claims that they want to increase tourism, but then they’ve also tried increasing visa prices and making it more difficult to get visas, both of which are things that are going to have the opposite effect.
Well, there’s some good news when it comes to Egyptian visas, finally.
Egypt is now issuing tourist eVisas for citizens of 46 countries, including the United States (this isn’t valid for those traveling to Egypt for work or study).
Here’s the full list of countries that are eligible for Egyptian eVisas (and apparently this list will be expanded in the future, so hopefully soon they add even more countries):
Egypt is issuing either single entry (25USD) or multiple entry (60USD) eVisas, each of which can be used for entry up to 90 days from when they’re issued, for a total stay of up to 30 days. You can also only have these issued if your passport is valid for at least eight months from when you intend to enter (which is a bit more than the usual six month validity requirement). Upon successful completion of the application you’ll be emailed an eVisa, which you’ll have to print out and bring with you when you travel to Egypt.
An Egyptian eVisa can be issued all the way up to departure, though they recommend having it issued at least seven days in advance to avoid any sort of issues. The application should take just 5-10 minutes to complete.
This is a great development, and I certainly prefer this to the current visa on arrival process (however, it’s possible to transit the airport without getting an eVisa, which is also an adventure).
(Tip of the hat to Points Miles and Bling)
I couldn't even sign up, to proceed with the visa application. Anyone know what are the requirements for a password on the site?
Hi Lucky, I'm curious. As a citizen of one of the countries on that list (and that could previously have obtained a visa on arrival), is it absolutely necessary to obtain evisa? Or can the visa on arrival still be obtained ?
I don't think the website on the official website was very clear as to whether voa was still available, but you seem to say that it is.
Thanks for all of your help!
Hopefully Egypt officials can work out the kinks of the eVisa soon. The tourist area seems to be w/o much security issues. I am planning to make the ME trip next summer. The prices are so low...
If North Korea has no access to Internet.
How are they supposed to get an evisa?!
Good to hear Egypt is working to be more tourist friendly.
No Brazil? Ugh
Just tried to apply for a visa, with only partial success. It takes a while for the e-mail confirmation to arrive after you create an account. Then it isn't clear who the host is if you just reserved a hotel--is it "Tourism Company" or "Self"? I opted for tourism company and put in the name of the hotel.
Payment is so far unsuccessful though, using three different browsers on two computers and two different credit...
Just tried to apply for a visa, with only partial success. It takes a while for the e-mail confirmation to arrive after you create an account. Then it isn't clear who the host is if you just reserved a hotel--is it "Tourism Company" or "Self"? I opted for tourism company and put in the name of the hotel.
Payment is so far unsuccessful though, using three different browsers on two computers and two different credit cards. First attempt my bank blocked it. After I cleared that up with the bank, the payment fails with the message "Invalid Digital Order E5009-12070810" and says to contact support using the "contact us" form. Tried a different card from a different bank and got the same error. The "contact us" form doesn't validate the message properly, and is convinced it contains invalid characters, which means it is impossible to submit the question. Same problem in both Chrome and Firefox.
Hopefully in a day or two some of the startup issues will be ironed out.
Yes, I didn't understand "up to 90 days until it’s issued" either.
USA, EU, Russia, Japan, Ukraine ...... and NORTH KOREA
The real question is: WHO in his right mind would want to visit Egypt NOW?
"up to 90 days until it’s issued..." Did you mean to say "until 90 days AFTER its issued?" If not then the sentence doesn't mean anything..
aand with the announcement that the US plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem well see how long the US.A is on the evisa list!!!1!
n...north korea?
Why are you linking to a Travel Agency rather than to the official Government website where you can apply directly?
https://visa2egypt.gov.eg/
@ Sean M. -- Good point, updated the link.