Visa rules in Egypt seem to be fairly straight forward, at least when you follow the official e visa website. These rules however, at least in regards to tourist visas turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as they did not allow any leisurely stays beyond a three months limit. Yet, we managed to get a tourist visa for 12 months. Read more to find out how.
Are you just here for the step-by-step guide? No biggie. Click here to scroll down.
How I extended my tourist visa in Egypt for 12 months
So, on the official Egyptian e visa website and according to other online sources I looked up when it came to my tourist visa extension in February this year, I read multiple times that you can extend your initial one-month visa (which you either got upon arrival or online prior to your visit) for an additional three months. As this is certainly true, the official source online suggested you cannot extend it for more than three months at all.
Because I heard stories of friends of my brother who lives in Cairo that they were able to stay in Egypt on a 12-month visa and as Dan and I are still waiting for the Australian borders to open up, I got curious and wanted to find out if we might be able to get a 12-month tourist visa somehow as well. If we could stay in El Gouna for a whole year, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about flying and moving to another country in the meantime and during that whole Covid madness; it also would give us some time to chill in the Egyptian sun which is not the worst after all.
Three, six or twelve months – which is it?
In the first few weeks of our stay, I talked to several fellow visitors from Europe, some other expats, as well as locals and business owners in El Gouna who told me all different kinds of information on the potential length of your visa extension.
First, we had some advice from a lovely lady in Cairo who recommended to get in touch with the embassy in order to get certain residence documents sorted for Dan and me and then with those to apply for an Egyptian residence card. However, that would have been a long, long faff as the process included not only emailing countless of people and waiting for the documents to come through (and we all know that delays are a given when it comes to governmental services), but also several appointments at the embassy or consulate in Cairo within a duration of a few weeks. With El Gouna being a five-hour taxi ride away it wasn’t a feasible option for us – maybe as a last resort.
Second, scrolling through some expat blogs and forums online I read that some people extended their Egyptian tourist visa at the passport office in Hurghada for another six months. Apparently, you only would need a rental agreement for the time being to be able to apply. Seems quite easy! Six months didn’t sound too bad. That would get us to August this year – the world might be a different place by then (I hope).
We wanted some clarity, as much as you can get from Egyptian officials at least. So, we took a cab and went to the passport office in Hurghada ourselves to check it out and bluntly ask what they can do for us. After we entered the security gates at the entrance of the building, we queued up and while standing in the wrong line as a young Ukrainian lady pointed out. She said we wanted to speak to the head of the passport office who is called the captain and has his own office room just on the left. We thanked the lady and now queued up once more. Queuing and waiting politely in line now seemed to be a very European idea as people just went right passed us into the office to address their own issues to the responsible. So, we ended up doing the same thing, cutting the line and marching into the captain’s office who couldn’t have cared less about who waits in line and who doesn’t. As soon as the captain became available to us, we asked about the tourist visa extension and how long it would be for. He wasn't a man of big words and said: “Six months, rental agreement, a copy of your passports and two passport photos.” We double-checked the length of the visa with him and asked if there is any way to extend it for longer than that. The captain closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. He confirmed with a sturdy dark voice “six months”. Fair enough then. Not three as we assumed, but six months. We’ll take that.
Passport photos, rental agreement and apparently a lawyer
In order to get all our documents together we asked the guy we rent our apartment from if he can provide us with a rental agreement for now so that we could apply for our visa extension. Man, what a boss! He was beyond helpful!
He told us no biggie and that people extend their tourist visas all the time, apparently, with some legal support. He said we could hire his lawyer for the paperwork as it turned out you need the rental agreement in Arabic. The lawyer would then accompany us to the passport office, support us with the application and general process. (We paid 800 Le for his services in the end.) He said you can try for 12 months and see what happens. This is exactly what a lady at the wakepark told us, too: “Write down 12 months on the application. If you get it, great. If not, they’ll give you six.” Sounds all plausible. Retrospectively, we really needed the lawyer only to draft the rental agreement in Arabic. The whole process at the passport office is actually quite simple.
On the day we applied for the visa extension, we went to the passport office with the lawyer and went through all the steps which I will list below. When it came down to the intended duration of our stay in Egypt which we were supposed to write down on the application form, he told us to put down 12 months which after what we’ve heard we would have done anyway. After around 50 minutes and after countless of conversations between him and some officials at the office which we couldn’t understand as they were talking in Arabic, we asked him how long our tourist visa extension would be now. He looked at us and slowly and unsurely said “something between four and six months.” Surprised by the uncertainty of his answer and due to all the ambiguous information we got until then, we were at a point where we just thought go with the flow and hope for the best.
After all, official online sources said we could get three months. The captain at the passport office who we thought must know best said six months. Our lawyer said we might get something between four and six.
Ten days after submitting the application we went back to the passport office in Hurghada to pick up our Egyptian foreign residence card which stated: Valid until January 10 2022. In the end, we got our 12-month visa extension. Who would have thought?
And here it is now! A step-by-step guide for extending your Egyptian tourist visa:
How to extend your tourist visa in Hurghada?
Step 1: Get your documents ready first. What you need for the application:
Two passport photos
A copy of your passport
A rental agreement in Arabic of the duration of your stay
Visa application fees approx. 1700Le per person
A pen
A lot of patience. The passport office can get quite jammed.
Step 2: Go to the visa passport office in Hurghada and get the visa application form from the officer at the door. Fill in the blanks and make sure the length of the extension you are applying for matches your rental contract (up to 12 months).
Step 3: Once that’s filled in, take the form as well as your documents and queue up at counter 2. When it’s your turn, hand in all your paperwork as well as your passport photos. You will be asked to fill out another very short form on the spot. If the officer is happy with everything, they will take a picture of you for your physical residence card which you will pick up at a later date.
Step 4: After the picture has been taken you will be asked to go to the cashier on the opposite side of the room to pay the visa fee. The visa fee can vary massively and apparently, can change day by day. Once you’ve paid, you will get a receipt. Keep that receipt.
Step 5: Come back ten days after the date of the application and bring the receipt. (I actually didn’t need to show it, but better safe than sorry aye.) You can pick up your residence card now at the captain’s office which is once you’re through the door at the very left in the room. Show him your passport and he will find your residence card out of a pile of other cards. Drums… only now you will find out how many months your tourist visa is granted for. Take the card and celebrate!
Please note this procedure is based on passport holders from the European Union and the UK.
Note on the side: Don’t worry too much if you’ve overstayed your initial visa. Firstly, there is a two weeks’ grace period which you can either leave the country or apply for a visa extension within without a problem. If you stay beyond those two weeks all you face is a fine either way.
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