Egypt visa

[footymum]

Hi..does anyone know if we can get visas for Egypt in the UK..and if so,where from? We're thinking of a side-trip to Cairo or Luxor with our 2 sons aged 14 and 12 so opinions on the best trip for them would be very helpful..want to buy the visas before we go as we don't fancy the queues at Sharm-el-Sheikh airport!! Many thanks..footymum

[VillageVicar]

The simple answer is yes. However, from the way you've phrased your question I might guess you may not be British. Is that correct? If you're British, you may obtain a thirty day visa on arrival. The cost is approximately �10

The Egyptian Consulate is at 2 Lowndes street, Knightsbridge. But to warn you, if you're going there, it can be busier than standing in queue. So you may wish to do everything by post.

Good travels

Fr Bill

[VillageVicar]

Sorry, I forgot to add that you may email them at:

[email protected]


Make sure you have more than six months remaining on your passport as well. It used to be 90 days, but the rule changed several months ago!

Be well

Fr Bill

[JonnoGenie]

�10 or $15. Join the queue like everyone else.

There's no point rushing, as your transit won't leave until the last person is on board. Since that last person to get on your transit queued for a visa on arrival... what benefit you doing anything else?


If, on the other hand you are an ol timer, and want to take your own transport fron SSH, you can get a multi entry (6 mo) visa from the embassy for �18.

[footymum]

Hi..many thanks for the responses....We're very much English born and bred and the reason we're reluctant to queue at Sharm airport is that we have a disabled son and unfortunately some travellers think that a wheelchair is just another obstacle to push in front of,so we'd hate to be the last people to board the bus for the hotel...footymum

[JonnoGenie]

Hi FootyMum, Ok I see where you are coming from. harm airport is a zoo at the best of times, although that said, the check-in is a damned sight better than Heathrow!

When you land at SSH you will be taken by bus to the arrivals hall. Here the fun begins. The vast majority of people will be getting a visa on arrival. This entails queing at one of the bank kiosk windows and handing over �10/$15 for a couple of postage stamps that you then (yourself) stick in your passport. Apparently this has *just* changed and you get a sticker, showing the price of $15. You put this in your passport yourself. There is no reason why your whole family need to join the scrum to get these. One person can go and buy 2,3,4-10 of them, while you wait somewhere a bit quieter.

Then you join the queue for immigration. And it will probably be a long queue. Patience is a virtue at SSH airport. Go through immigration, the guy who checks that you have in fact been stamped in, then wait for ages in the baggage hall to get your gear.

[JonnoGenie]

p.s. So there is little point in rushing all of this. Even if you queue for a visa, by the time you get to the luggage hall, you might still queue for half an hour, maybe an hour for your bags. At some point in the baggege hall you'll probably find your rep, who once you have your bags, will send you off on a journey into the night to find your transit bus in the car-park (at night... bit of a wonder, but no problem really).

Note: That unless you want to go out of Sharm, or go to the Ras Mohammed National Park (or similar day trips), you do not need a visa at all. Just write 'Sharm and Sinai coast only' on the back of your arrivals card, and hand it to the immigration guy. No visa queue, no payments.

Have fun in SSH, it is a good place, and the Egyptians are in general really lovely people. I have a mate who was a wheelchair dive instructor there. It is pretty chair friendly all things considered. The taxis are well used to the rigmarole of dismantling the chair and getting it in the boot, and the middle of Sharm (Naama Bay) is as flat as a pancake, though you might find the random unecessary step here and there.

[JonnoGenie]

Read Sharm airport, not 'harm' airport..... LOL!