Important entry visa news - now you see it now you don't

11TH SEPTEMBER 2011:  STOP PRESS - EGYPTIAN CABINET REVERSES THIS DECISION!

Changes to Tourism Visa Suspended

Changes to visa regulations suspended

Changes to tourist visa revoked


So let me see, yesterday I received an email from the British Embassy saying:


" We have spoken to the Immigration Ministry today, who tell us that it is not correct that you can no longer buy visas on entry.  They tell us that they have no new instructions and that nothing has changed."

Yet, it was in fact true, the decision had been made, but following the hue and cry has been reversed.

One is shaking one's head and tutting!

NOTE THAT THIS INFORMATION BELOW IS NO LONGER (WELL TODAY ANYWAY!) RELEVANT!!!

Independent travellers to Egypt please note:

In the pipeline - visitors to be required to get visas before entering Egypt not on arrival

Please be aware if you are planning to visit Egypt and get an entry visa upon arrival at the airport, it is reported that this is likely to change.

According to this link:

Egypt requiring tourists to get visas in advance

this may kick in as early as NEXT WEEK.  Be advised especially if you are planning to travel here very soon.

Coming to live in Cairo for a year - Summary

Having just made this huge post on another place in answer to someone's questions, I have copied it over here!

The original question related to some of the practicalities of actually being here for a year including the cost of living. Please note I have excluded accommodation discussions because my situation is a little different. The best advice is usually to get here and then look, not try to fix up from abroad.

What visa can I get?

The only visa you can get yourself in your own right - without being married to an Egyptian or without having a job with work permit - is 'touristic'. If you come into the country and get the usual 30 day effort at the Airport, then before 30 days is up, make your way to one of the places you can get a touristic visa - there may be one nearer where you end up living than Mogamma. You can ask for a one year visa but don't be surprised if they offer you a 3 month or 6 month instead.

What if I want to be able to leave Egypt and come back?

If you plan on leaving the country and coming back you MUST get a reentry visa before leaving Egypt otherwise your residency visa is cancelled when you leave. As far as I know, the only place you can get a reentry visa is Mogamma.

Can I get a work visa?

There is no such thing as a work visa. To work legally you need to get a job from an employer who offers a work permit. Or get married to an Egyptian, get the 5 year permanent residency, then have him go to Mogamma with you and sign papers saying that he assumes full responsibility for your work.

The position of 'freelancers' who are not confined to one employer is vague to say the least.

While many people are working here illegally, that choice is between you and your Maker! Just imagine if they had the equivalent of the Daily Mail here [Wink]

What about tax (in Egypt)

If you have a job with a work permit, then the employer should be paying your taxes. As we all know, there are companies which deduct the tax from your pay but don't in fact hand it over to the authorities.

What do I do about healthcare?

Healthcare - again, some companies will include it as part of a package, otherwise you're on your own. Having said that, paying private here is probably cheaper than getting health insurance if you are relatively fit. My view is, keep at least one of your UK credit cards with a big balance clear (well use it once a year so they don't close it!) just in case. A friend's husband had quadruple heart bypass and it cost something like 130000LE I seem to recall, just to give you some idea of an upper cap.

I did look into private health insurance and it would have cost about £40 per month when I looked (holiday insurance won't do btw!) - about 20% of my typical monthly expenditure. Total health care costs for me todate 'paying as I go' (including seeing cardiologist, neurologist, ECG, electrocardiogram, blood tests) in over 2 years = £35.

A trustworthy Egyptian friend has access to an account with some money set aside in it in case I ever get in a situation where medical care needs to be paid for quickly and when I am not in a position to be able to get to the ATM myself. I carry the friend's contact details on me just in case. (I think it's best if the emergency contact is an Arabic speaker!)

UK Tax

The UK has a double-taxation treaty with Egypt so if you are working here, money earned here is not subject to tax in the UK and vice versa (caveat - I am not a financial adviser, this is not advice and legislation may change at any time). (This isn't, say, the case for Canadians who have to pay tax on world wide income even if it is taxed in the other country!!!!!) Depending on your financial position back in the UK (eg are you going to be receiving rental income, savings income?) - you may still have to complete an annual tax return and there is a nice fat fine for not doing so. Call the Inland Revenue begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting and ask to register as 'non resident for tax purposes'. They are very helpful!

UK National Insurance

You have to pay 30 full years (under current legislation and if you are under, say, 50) to get full pension. You can make voluntary contributions if you want to keep up your record and if there's no danger of you going back - but you have up to 6 years after the relevant year to make voluntary contributions.

It's worth getting a statement from them as to how many years your record is - I was amazed to find I had 29 years in and so it's not worth me paying voluntary until much nearer the retirement age unless the rules change! (Apparently all the time I was at Uni, contributions were made for me by the State!)

(And btw even if you have got 30 years in - if you continue to work, you continue to have to pay NI so keep your eyes on the legislation in case the 30 years changes again and decide whether it's worth you paying voluntary).

Opening a Bank Account in Egypt

You can open one easily with a tourist visa + passport + credit card or similar from the UK. Unless or until you get a job, open a savings account. There are some very nice juicy interest rates here and most transactions are still done in cash.

You can open in more than one currency so, say, you could move sterling over here into a sterling account and just have it sit there and change it up when you need it or when exchange rates are good.

Your choice whether to go for a European-name bank (eg HSBC or Barclays or Credit Agricole or BNP Paribas or whatever) or an Egyptian bank eg Arab African or United Bank or whatever. Note that there are many banks with slightly different names!

How much does it cost to live here?

Not including accommodation costs: my monthly Opex - living expenses are about 2000LE averaged over the year: (including electricity (100), broadband (150), phone (25), gardener (130), 300LE for catfood, transport - mainly buses, microbuses and metro - I use taxis rarely - food, cleaning materials,toiletries, going out about once a week, mobile top ups etc).

You will find that I am probably at the lower end for an expat.

My vices are drinking gallons of milk (costs me around 200LE per month [Eek!] ) and my inability to go to Hyper1 without spending 40LE in Cilantros on iced white chocolate drinks. Hence I avoid going to Hyper more than once every 6 weeks. It is physically impossible for me to go in Cilantros and just have a coffee for 10). My name is OBC and I am a milkoholic.

The other thing you may want to factor in is a gym or similar. I joined a club way back when I first started coming here - before I moved here - offering a quick prayer - because the cost now would be way out of my reach. I haven't included the 'write down' of that in my monthly expenditures because it came out of 'capital'. (Sorry - too many years of corporate budget models!)

Full gory details of my 2008 costs are here: Gory Details

Finding somewhere to live

Here's a useful link for flats (apartments) and sharing. Obviously, keep your wits about you and don't do anything here you wouldn't do in your home country.

Expatriates.Com - Cairo Housing Classifieds

CAVEAT - ALL THE ABOVE IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OPINIONS. I AM NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISER TAX ACCOUNTANT IMMIGRATION OFFICER LAWYER OR ACTING IN ANY OFFICIAL CAPACITY. SEEK QUALIFIED ADVICE IF ANY OF THE ABOVE AFFECTS YOU IN ANY WAY.

Change in temporary residence visas

UPDATE (15/1): Since just before Christmas, the picture seems to have changed again with several people successfully reporting getting renewals of one year touristic visas at the Mogamma. Hopefully this will all now go away!

UPDATE (11/12): I am hearing more and more reports from friends who have witnessed people being turned away from the Mogamma when they go to renew annual touristic visas. I am given to understand that there is no problem in Luxor as yet. I am therefore inclined to think that an existing law is being enforced at the Mogamma but not yet in other areas. A friend and I are going to go to the Mogamma in the next couple of weeks to attempt to find out personally (a) what is the position about renewals - someone said they were told you can have 3 years worth with no problem and (b) what is the application process for non-touristic, how long does it take - what evidence do you have to supply etc etc. I shall report back once we have been.

UPDATE (9/10): There have now been a few people posting on Egyptsearch forum and Luxor4U forum where they have got new visas without a problem so it seems that this issue was limited in scope. However, as ever with all things Egyptian, do bear in mind if you are upping sticks to move here you need a Plan D - it is a foreign country and this sort of thing could happen at sometime in the future.

UPDATE (22/9): Mr Gaddis, the British Consul in Luxor has checked it all out and says its a rumour. Also, this blogger: Zak has also been running around to find the truth.

Some people posted in a couple of places that they had problems renewing their annual touristic visas (which many of us are here in Egypt on) causing quite a lot of distress and after a lot of investigations it appears to not be generally applicable.


Original post now removed to avoid confusion.

Oh! We're going to Mogamma....

The Mogamma, located in the heart of Cairo, is the biggest public administrative building in the whole of the African continent and yes, this is where you go to get your residency visa etc.. But do not fear - despite the fact that my Egyptian Arabic teacher in London told me that they counted 1 million people a day entering the building but only 990,000 leaving - its not so scarey as you might think.

I made a long post in a forum last year about exactly where to go so you can do it blindfolded which I am now copying here for ease of reference.

This post tells you what's in the Mogamma and some info about temporary residency and visas. For the record, I am a British passport holder, but I think its the same for Americans (US) and Europeans.

THE MOGAMMA

I'm glad I went with someone the first time because its a bit confusing. However, when I went the second time on my own it was fine.

BEFORE YOU GO

Photocopy your passport and keep safe - you don't get a receipt when you hand it in.

Go in the morning (before 12 or earlier – I went 11). If you can get it the same day, you will need to go back about 2pm so you will probably have to wait 3+ hours somewhere – be prepared – you can leave the Mogamma and go somewhere else – you don’t have to wait in there (BUT bear in mind you won't have your passport with you because you have to leave it in the Mogamma which might limit some of your options).

Take something to lean on to do writing!

You can get drinks and toilets in there (see below).

Get off at Sadat Metro and find the ‘El Mogamma’ exit.

WHAT DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU GET IN

Yes, its a very big building but for residency you only need to know about the entrance floor and the one above it (i.e. for Brits - what we call the ground and first floor and for Americans, what you call the first and second floor).

You see a circular entrance hall - not too big. On your left are lifts (ignore) and on your right is a big staircase. On either side of the big staircase are two photocopy places. At the back of the big circle is a corridor. Take the right hand corridor and the first door on your right is the photo place. This is actually a little office with photocopiers and people in it, not a machine.

PHOTOS

Get photos from the photo office on the entrance floor. Pay 15LE to the person who gives you a number, then go to the back of the office (which is cramped with people taking photocopies etc), they take your photo digitally and print out a sheet of 8 passport-sized photos. Then its cut into 8 for you.
They let me use the mirror to comb my hair in advance

PHOTOCOPIES

Cost 50pt each - you might prefer to wait until the people upstairs tell you what you need, but I had to get a copy of my passport (mugshot page) and a copy of the page with my current entry visa on it. I got mine from the photocopy place by the stairs not in the little office.

WHAT’S UPSTAIRS

Go up the stairs - doesn't matter which branch you take, they come to the same result. You have to go through the security machine under the 'welcome' sign on the right hand side. There's a circular entrance with corridors off.

If you are a foreigner, take the corridor furthest round from the entry. If you get lost just say visa to someone official looking and they will point you (how do I know? – guess!). The most useful word for directions in Arabic to commit to memory is ‘al atool’ which means ‘straight on’. Wander the corridor until you start seeing the booths that look like bank tellers. They are all labelled (in English) – eg Arab nationals, non-Arab, refugee etc etc.. (There are some signs hanging from the ceiling indicating 'foreigners' 'residency' etc as well to assist). If all the booths are labelled purely in Arabic then you're in the wrong bit!

If you want temporary permits and entry/reentry visas, I can’t remember the exact number but it was about number 32 or similar. When you know what quantity of stamps you need to buy, you need number 43 or 44.

REFRESHMENTS ETC

Refreshments are available. There are a couple of chaps wandering around with bottled water (2LE for half a litre) and various cans – all were cold, not warm. I also saw someone wandering round with pens for sale!

There are toilets – the ladies has both a squatty bog and a sitting down bog. I found paper in one, but recommend you take your own. I don’t know if the shitfer thing was working – I forgot to ask my friend who uses these devices!

**PERMITS**

RESIDENCY OR TEMPORARY?

Now, I have seen various conflicting information about what permit I am allowed to get. I own a flat, but it is not yet registered in my name and I haven’t yet got the electricity transferred into my name. I am not married.

The story is as follows: one woman in the Mogamma told my Egyptian friend that if I owned a property that was REGISTERED in my name PLUS had the ELECTRICITY registered in my name, I could apply for a RESIDENCY permit (3 years). Another woman, a couple of windows down said IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE WHETHER YOU OWN PROPERTY OR NOT – you cannot get a RESIDENCY permit unless you are married to an Egyptian. So, that is two different stories from two different windows.

Also, they told my friend that if I wanted to WORK, then I need to find the job first and the employer will do the work permit.

So, I applied for / obtained a TEMPORARY RESIDENCE FOR TOURISTIC PURPOSES valid for 1 year. This ends up stuck in your passport with the words ‘Work is Not Permitted’ on it.

The form is in English and Arabic and the woman tells you what you need to pay in stamps (91.10LE), which bits of the passport to photocopy and sticks your mugshot on the form.

Go away, find somewhere to perch with your handy ‘thing to lean on’ that you bought with you, fill in the form. Go and get the photocopies you need (back downstairs), then go to the stamps place (booth 43 or 44) and stick them on the top of the form. Then go back to the desk you got the form from. She’ll go through it and tell you to come back later. I THINK IT WAS TO A DIFFERENT COUNTER for this visa, I can’t remember (It may have been number 11 - this is ringing a bell in my head for some reason - but I might be wrong).

REENTRY VISA

Now, again, I have heard different stories about the reentry visas and when to get them. To cut a long story short, the key seems to be to get the reentry visa BEFORE you leave the country and not back in the UK otherwise the Temporary Residence is invalid. It seems you do NOT need to get it at the same time as the TEMPORARY RESIDENCE.

I went back to the Mogamma a second time and got a multiple reentry visa 61.10LE which is valid for 6 months from the date I got it. Again, this entailed a 3 hour wait between requesting and issuing – but even with the cost of lunch and copious lemon juice drinks in the Nile Hilton, it was still cheaper than buying it in the Egyptian Consulate in London (£18 and just as much waiting about). This time I went back to the same booth as where I put in the application.

Hope this info helps someone!

[Please note this relates to my visit July 2007 and some regulations and prices may have changed since then! Actually I renewed my visa this year and it was about 82 or 83LE something like that, and was also able to renew it in 6th October rather than Mogamma. You still have to go to Mogamma for reentry visas]

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