Hi,

I queried a few posts back about being charged £5 to get out of Egypt. I have today received booking forms from Libra and it says on them
Quote
"Egyptian Embassy - A departure tax must be paid by all leaving from Egypt of approx £5pp stg - it is the clients responsibility to pay at the airport preferential"

Help! The travel agents told me this when booking, do we really have to pay to get in and get out, it seems that none of you have had to pay it, have you travelled with Libra is it just them??? very confused please can you advise me.

Thanks

i came back from my holiday 2/1/05 we were told at the reps meeting about paying the £5 to leave the country which was news to me but we didnt pay anything at the airport and yes we went with libra.

Has anyone actually ever paid it?

I am intrigued - where does the boat trip take you to, havent heard of ras mohammed. We are travelling with one child, can you give us info on trip and costs etc. Very happy to hear we do not have to pay visa entry.

No we didn't pay the departure tax either - in fact onebody in our queue did. Don't think it has come into force yet. Visa - as above, if you are going by boat to Ras Mohamend etc you will not need your visa as you will not be going through any road blocks!

Thanks, any idea when it is meant to come into force? Can`t believe they want you to pay to get in and pay to get out.

What about visa's at Hurghada ? Any problems there at all ?

Cheers
Brian L

Just to add it was a very quick process to get them in the arrivals hall, just make sure the have correct notes in sterling (and dollars / euro's i guess but never saw anybody paying with them)

Edit For future Members that may view this Badgerman is referring to Hurghada Airport, Briar

Thanks for the info, very useful.
What is the cost now, in sterling, as anything from £10 to £15/16 seems to be demanded?

Cheers

Brian L ( ready for some winter sun )

Sorry it was Hurghada I was relating to. It cost £15 per person in may 2004, and it was as simple as handing over your money and receiving some stamps to stickin your passport, then joining the queue for passport control.

we arrived at sharm 30/1/05 - we had written on our landing cards sinai only on front of card as were unsure where we should write it ! I had £45 in cash on me just incase ! still don't know how much they should be but we assumed £15 sterling each.
Anyway we booked our accomodation thru Just Eygpt and a rep was waiting for us as you walk off the tarmac with our name on a baord he asked if we wanted visas we said no so he just told us to go and stand in passport control queue which we did - we queued for about 5 mins when it was our turn we were asked if we wanted visas we said no - he was fine no hassle just said write sinai only on back of card in for official use only bit !! and sign - so we did ! no probs ! save your money if you aren't venturing far forget the visa !

We're going Sharm in May, and we wanted to go to Cario I take it then we should get visa's?,

We called the Egyptian Consulate which sent the visa application forms though to us, There £15 each and we have to send a passport size picture with the form.

Don't know if this is worth filling the form out now or wait till we get to the ariport.

Thanks Briarskeg.

Think I will fill out this form and get it back to them then before we go.

Have just got back from Naama Bay. Took advice from this forum and did not get Visas just put Sinai only on back of immigration form , went straight to passport control and there were no problems, infact the official was very polite!
The tour rep tried to sell Visas on coach for those that did not have them, when he asked us we said we did not want one as we were not going outside Sharm - he very sarcastically asked what sort of a holiday we would have spending all week in our hotel then , to which we replied politely that we would be going round the resort and to bays up the road but as we did not want to do any trips etc we did not require visas. Several of our travelling companions asked him why he hadn't explained to them before he sold them a visa that they did not actually need visas if they intended to stay in the resort , to which he gave no answer but just walked away!
We met several people in the hotel who had not bought Visas - most of them through the advice on this site so the message is filtering through.
I would say though it is a good idea to get visas if this is your first visit to Egypt as there are many excursions that you may want to go on which need a visa.

Can under 12 year olds take B1? does anyone know?

Hi,
Sorry to ask visa question, sure you are all fed up with the subject. But would you recommend getting visa prior to traveling or get it at the airport.

On a seperate subject has anyone travelled in the past couple of weeks, as I hear UK airports are charging an extra tax at the check-in tp travel. Been told this could be anything upto £80 each, I think its called Air Passenger Duty Tax. Be grateful if anyone could clarify this.

Thanks in advance
John

Re the APD, yes some airlines are charging at check-in IF it hasn't been paid already. Some airlines are absorbing the tax themselves. There is a thread on the APD HERE

About the visas, If it was me, I'd get them at the airport when arriving. It saves the possibility of your passport going missing. It won't cost any more (I think)

The escape tax (air passenger duty) will not be added to the cost of your holiday if it is a complete package, if it is flight only it depends on the carrier for more info on APD http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6258327.stm

they stress you MUST get a visa "to be safe" in case you need one

Not just Gray's town, either.
Some friends of mine are travelling to the Sea Star near Taba on Friday. Thomson (or is it Tui now?) have told then that because of the fighting in Sharm (when? - can someone enlighten me? I can't find any reference to this on any news pages) they need to get a Visa to be on the safe side - and that if they needed hospital treatment they would not be allowed in without one. I wonder what consequenses this statement may have for anyone travelling with Thomson's own travel insurance?