Travel Visa to Egypt: Do you need visa? or How I was deported from Egypt.

This is a short story of how I was deported from Egypt for not having entry visa and what to do to avoid this. Seams strange. But visa matters are always full of stupidity, idiotism and unexpected surprises.

I mostly avoid travelling to the countries with strict visa regulations (except on business trips). This is not because I'm afraid to be refused visa granting (I doubt that it may happen with my travel record and social status), but just because of being too proud to beg for permit to visit not the obviously best places of the world. However since my first visit to Egypt I faced unexpected trouble: "Open & Welcoming" countries are not so Open and Welcoming.

I was going to make a 4 day trip from Moscow to Jordan with overnights in Cairo (to visit the Pyramids). I heard that Egypt has a kind of tricky non-visa status so before I left home I made a phone call to Egyptian Embassy in Moscow and ask them to grant me tourist visa. They were (as all the embassy officers) very arrogant and irritated and did not want even talk to me. They strictly refused to talk about this because:
1) They do not have visa department, stamps, application forms and any other visa facilities.
2) Citation: "Russians do not need visa to Egypt".

I tried to insist but they stopped the conversation.

On my way to Jordan I crossed the Egyptian border with a crowd of Russian tourists and Got my lucky 10 $ (or so) stamp labeled into passport.


After a lovely trip around northern Egypt and across Jordan I was on my way back to Moscow.

The Flight from Amman to Cairo landed at around 2 a.m. - the very deep night. Airport was empty and I was the only passenger with European face on board. So no any chances to mix with the crowd. It was almost unavoidable that I filtered out and taken aside.

The arrogant Egyptian officer had nothing to do in a night time so he had a lot of time to play his role. Our arguing continued for about couple hours, but the short thesises were like this:

- You do not have visa.
- I contacted Egyptian Embassy in Moscow they said I do not need visa.
- They are stupid. I say you: you need visa.
- Do you have Boss above you?
- I am Boss.
- May I call the Embassy?
- You can but they sleep. Tomorrow you will.
- But my flight departs tomorrow at noon. I will spend just some hours in your country. I simply want to sleep at the bed.
- I can let you pass through if you find an Egyptian tourist company which will invite you.
- I have an invitation letter from Sales Manager of InterContinental Hotels we have an appointment for the breakfast and I just want to take a taxi to go to my bed in InterConti

It was absolute true, our company was a GSA of InterConti in Russia and I booked the Pyramis Park Hotel for the special Travel Agent rate and had an appointment and the letter on the official IterConti yellowish paper with the golden letterhead and logo. I showed him a letter.

- It's a fake.
- What makes you think so? This is my business card.
- Anyway. It is not enough. You must have a Travel Agency inviting you.
- Well. Now what?
- I can call my friend. He is a travel agent.
- And how much does it cost?
- 400 US$.
-???? What? Do you have cell or cage where I can wait for my plane and take a wooden bed with insects and killers?

At that time all the people around us (Egypt Air staff, Customs and others) tried to convince that officer that he is too..., that he probably should find better job for tonight, but this only made him more resistant and I was pompously DEPORTED.

Three guards and one slim well-shaped sexy stewardess convoyed me to... Egypt Air's Transit Zone Hotel. I checked-in for both hotel and flight (which should depart at least 8 hours later) my baggage was also checked in for the flight. I spotted a Rack rates on a wall and found that one night stay costs 90US$, but I even was not sure that I have such a huge money.

-How much should I pay?
-Nothing.
-????
-This is Egypt Air's fault. We should not allow you to board the plain and now we have to cover cost of your accommodation.

It was very nice. I would even say it was great! But only one thought about what could happen if they do not allow me to board a plane in Amman made me cold sweating.

In the morning I was woken up just 40 minutes before flight departure and it was exactly enough time to wake up, check out the hotel and pass into the plain. No customs, no baggage check, no queuing - It was like left your home and take your bus to the office.

TIPS ON TRAVELLING TO NON-VISA COUNTRIES

All good what ends good. But I would recommend you couple simple things to help you to avoid troubles in future:

1. If you go to non-visa country via travel agent - it should not be a problem as they arrange all the procedures, pay certain bribes and make friends with right people. So organized groups are legalized. However, you know, there are always dodgy professionals in any industry. Make sure your agreement with travel agent contains clear statement of visa regulations so in case of problem Travel agent will have to cover your costs and moral damage.

2. If you travel independently - you might be potentially in trouble (but this is not a reason to stop an independent travelling). Even if country is definitely non-visa you should not relax and try to think in advance what you will do if it happens with you. You must have an itinerary flexibility, back doors and extra money to solve the problem. In my case I did not plan to stop in Egypt for the long time and in case of border trouble I was planning to hang around transit zone (what finally happened).

3. Very often countries which are commonly mentioned as non-visa destinations are not so in fact. Be careful. Most of non-visa countries just have a "liberal" forms of visas which could be obtained upon arrival. But that's a tricky question: what are the conditions. You should know about this before departure and we will discuss it in further posts in Travel Visa section.