Visas to stay in Luxor long-term

[Connie Tindale]

Revised September 2005

You can get a visa extension that will allow you to live in Luxor for one year simply by taking your passport, a photocopy of the main details from your passport (main page and entry visa) and a photograph of yourself to the passport office across the road from the Sonesta hotel. If you have been in the country for a long while then you will need a copy of the page which has the stamp for your last port of entry on it.

The cost is 91 LE for the one year visa and 61 LE for a six-month re-entry visa will which allow you come and go more or less as you please. If you leave the country without having obtained the re-entry visa then the one-year visa is terminated and you have to get another visa when you come back. The visa you get on arrival is only valid for one month and there is a fine of around 150 LE if you do not extend it before it runs out. You do not need a photograph for the re-entry visa but you do need photocopies of your passport details and present visa and re-entry visa.

If you want to open a bank account it is usually necessary for you to have a one-year visa and many of the banks will ask for the re-entry visa too. Most long-term residents in Luxor live here without seeking permanent residency and simply renew their tourist visas annually.

PLEASE ADD ANY INFORMATION YOU HAVE. WHEN ALL THE INFORMATION IS IN I SHALL RE-WRITE THIS ENTRY AND POST IT AS A SINGLE LOCKED POST.

[grannydeb]

when i come into egypt now, if entering into the country with my husband i do not have to have a visa. I wonder if the same applies when i come to live there?

[Chocolatey]

If you do not have a residency or an Egyptian passport then you need an entry visa.

[grannydeb]

well i have to have one if i enter egypt alone but not if we enter together, might be because he hands the passports to customs together and our surname is the same...........because i am not resident and my passport is english ...........or could it be that because he is still a resident????/puzzling

[Chocolatey]

well i have to have one if i enter egypt alone but not if we enter together, might be because he hands the passports to customs together and our surname is the same...........because i am not resident and my passport is english ...........or could it be that because he is still a resident????/puzzling

Nothing suprises me in this country anymore. I just laugh - everything changes daily.

Does he have an English Passport or does he come in on his Egyptian one?

Like you say - its strange

[grannydeb]

he has an egyptian passport, it contains a schengen visa also coz we have visited other european countries whilst we have been in the uk

[Charlie]

It is possible to get a six months visa which costs about eleven pounds Egyptian, really cheap. Charlie.

[PrinceofEgypt]

You can get a visa extension that will allow you to live in Luxor simply by taking your passport and a photograph of yourself to the passport office across the road from the Sonesta hotel.

The cost is around 50 LE for the one year visa and about 12 LE for a six-month re-entry visa will which allow you come and go more or less as you please. If you leave the country without having obtained the re-entry visa then the one-year visa is terminated and you have to get another visa when you come back. The visa you get on arrival is only valid for one month and there is a fine of around 100 LE if you do not extend it before it runs out.

If you want to open a bank account it is usally necessary for you to have a one-year visa and many of the banks will ask for the re-entry visa too. Most long-term residents in Luxor live here without seeking permament residency and simply renew their tourist visas annually.

PLEASE ADD ANY INFORMATION YOU HAVE. WHEN ALL THE INFORMATION IS IN I SHALL RE-WRITE THIS ENTRY AND POST IT AS A SINGLE LOCKED POST.

does this apply for all of egypt...
how about cairo does the same rulez apply...

[Connie Tindale]

The rules are the same throughout Egypt

[Miriam]

your right grannydeb I also dont need a visa when entering with my hubby its because we show the marriage certificate we also pay Egyptian prices for internal flights and entry into any tourist sight if you show the certificate

[Connie Tindale]

But he has to be with you. If you do it alone you need a visa.

[gerda]

My case....

I never need a visa when entering Egypt alone. I have a Dutch passport but inside it is written "wife of...and then the name of my husband". That is more than enough and I never need a visa, I am always entering Egypt alone or with my son but never together with my husband. It also doesn't matter which airport I enter, Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan and Cairo, all the same. For my son (he has a Dutch passport) I always have to show his Egyptian birth certificate and then also he doesn't need a visa..............
And these are my experience now for almost 12 years.................

I fly also Egyptian fare with Egypt Air for the domestic flights. Then they need a copy of my wedding contract, saves a lot of money.....

[Connie Tindale]

What process did you have to follow to get "wife of" written in your passport? Have you ever had to show any kind of evidence that you have his permission to travel?

[gerda]

When we were married in Luxor, I had all my papers translated by my embassy, stamped and legalized. In Holland we went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and registered our marriage. Within 1 week we could collect our "wedding book" (here are written all the details about your marriage,where, when, names/ the date of birth and names of your children/in case of death all details). I think it is typical something from the Dutch government. When my passport was expired, I went to the city council in Amsterdam with my wedding book and my old passport. You can choose to put your husband's name in the passport (wife of......)

Since the last 12 years I am traveling like this with no problem what so ever. Nobody asked me for the wedding contract or an approval of my husband that I can travel alone..............
I come and go whenever I want............. My son always has to show his Egyptian birth certificate together with his Dutch passport, no problems....
And I have been traveling a lot these 12 years........with or without husband or child.....no problem at all!!!

[Royston]

I was born in Suez but hold a UK passport do I need to obtain a visa?

Do i qualify for cheaper internal flights?

[DJKeefy]

the cost of the Visa as now gone up - its 91le for a year visa, if your late over 10 days you also pay 153.50le fine.

[WIZARD]

Thank you for your welcome Luxorlover, it was kind of you to respond so quickly. I need a little time to see how things are done on Luxor 4U. I've read quite a bit of what other members have written and hope to join in later should I have anything worth reading to write. I've lived here in Luxor since 1989. I find it's better to keep one self to one self, and restrict ones friends to a select few. Befriending people of a certain type tends to lead to being tared with the same brush I'm sure your members will have a few things to say about that. After living here so long, many of my really good friends have either died here or have returned to England. Unfortunately they have been replaced with persons whom most people wouldn't want to know even in England. It would be nice to hear from other members of Luxor4U. I look forward to reading what they have to say.

Wizard.

I'm not really a Wizard, it's just that I had the Video (The Wizard of Oz) at hand when I was looking for inspiration for a name to register with.

[WIZARD]

Yesterday, I went to the Passport Office for my yearly Visa. I was armed with my Passport, a recent photograph, A photocopy of my last Visa, a photocopy of my Passport details and LE 91:25 p.
I had been told by friends who had recently renewed their Visas that the rules had changed regarding photocopies, and only the two photocopies were required. I had always required three photocopies, the two mentioned above, and one of my last port of entry way back in 1989. This had been transferred to my new Passport obtained at the Embassy in Cairo in 1999. For those Ex-pats who go home and return on their last Visa, the last port of entry and their last Visa are one in the same, hence they only require two photocopies. If an Ex-pat had not been home for say two years, they would need three photocopies. One of the Passport details, one of their last Visa and one of their last port of entry, so watch out.

[Connie Tindale]

Thanks for that info Wiz. I shall add it to the main information at the top of the page.

[Charlie]

If anyone has a UK passport, then they are a British Citizen, it is irelevant where a person is born, if anyone applies and gets citizenship then they are not a citizen elsewhere, they are a resident. Anyone can always try their luck to see whether they would get a reduction in fares, even wear a galabeya, but the games up really the moment they ask to see your passport. There are many British who do not appear to be British on the surface, but they are, and the British have to pay ten pounds English to get a one month Visa !! Good luck !!