Egypt visa and entry requirements: the 2026 guide

In brief

Entry formalities for Egypt come down to three simple rules: a visa is required for almost every traveller, it costs 30 US dollars for a single entry since the spring 2026 increases, and your travel document must stay valid for six months after you get home. Everything else is a special case, and we go through each one below with the official sources to back it up.

• A visa is required for almost every traveller, for a stay of up to 30 days
• Online e-visa: 30 US dollars for a single entry, 65 for multiple entries
• The online application must be filed at least 7 days before departure
• Visa on arrival: 30 US dollars, cash only, since 1 March 2026
• A passport valid for 6 months after your return works for every nationality
• National ID cards are accepted for France, Belgium and Italy, with two photos
• Staying only in South Sinai: free 15 day entry stamp
• One official website for the online application: visa2egypt.gov.eg

Do you need a visa to travel to Egypt?

Yes. A tourist visa is required for French, Belgian, Swiss, Canadian, Italian, Spanish, British and American nationals, whatever the length of the stay. It allows a stay of up to 30 days and can be obtained in three ways: online before departure, on arrival at an Egyptian airport, or from an Egyptian consulate.

There is one exception that really concerns European travellers: a stay limited to the south of the Sinai peninsula, around Sharm El Sheikh, comes with a free 15 day entry stamp. As soon as your itinerary leaves that area, for Cairo, Luxor or a Nile cruise, the full visa becomes mandatory again.

One detail many travellers discover at the check in desk: every traveller needs their own travel document and their own visa, including children and babies. There is no such thing as a family visa.

How much does the Egyptian visa cost in 2026?

A single entry tourist visa costs 30 US dollars. That price is recent: the visa on arrival went from 25 to 30 dollars on 1 March 2026, and the e-visa followed on 27 April 2026, at 30 dollars for a single entry and 65 dollars for multiple entries. It was the first increase in a decade.

Two practical consequences. First, many fact sheets and blogs still show 25 dollars: use the current price as your reference and allow a little margin. Second, the visa on arrival is paid in cash, in dollars or euros, at the bank desk in the airport. Bring clean, recent notes, damaged bills are sometimes refused, and do not count on paying by card at that desk.

• e-visa, single entry: 30 US dollars
• e-visa, multiple entries: 65 US dollars
• Visa on arrival: 30 US dollars, cash only
• Authorised length of stay: 30 days
• e-visa validity: 3 months from the date it is issued
• One visa per traveller, children and babies included

How do you get the e-visa, step by step?

The e-visa is applied for on visa2egypt.gov.eg, the Egyptian government portal, and nowhere else. Allow about fifteen minutes, with your passport in front of you and a bank card within reach.

Three habits prevent almost every problem. File the application at least 7 days before departure, as the official portal requires. Copy your details exactly as they appear in your passport, with no added accent and no missing first name. And watch the calendar: since the e-visa is valid for 3 months from the date it is issued, there is no point applying six months ahead.

One last precaution: many intermediary websites rank above the official portal in search results and charge three to four times the price to fill in the same form on your behalf. Always check that the address ends in gov.eg before you pay.

• 1. Create an account on visa2egypt.gov.eg with your email address
• 2. Enter your details exactly as they appear in your passport
• 3. Choose single or multiple entry, then your travel dates
• 4. Pay online by Visa or Mastercard
• 5. Receive the e-visa by email, print it and keep a copy on your phone

Passport or ID card: what do you need to show?

A passport valid for at least six months is accepted for every nationality, and it is the option with no surprises. National ID cards come from bilateral agreements that only cover a few countries, including France, Belgium and Italy. They work, but they come with their own rules: two passport photos to provide, a visa issued on arrival on a cardboard document, and no possibility of extending it once you are there.

Here is what each nationality needs, according to the official sources checked in July 2026.

If you travel with an ID card, take thirty seconds at the desk to check that your name and card number have been copied correctly onto the cardboard document the officer hands you. A mistake there is paid for when you leave the country. And if the date printed on your card has passed, even where your own country extended it automatically, do not gamble on it: travel with a passport.

• France: passport or ID card, valid 6 months after your return, two photos if using an ID card (source: France Diplomatie)
• Belgium: passport or ID card, valid 6 months after your return, two photos if using an ID card (source: diplomatie.belgium.be)
• Italy: passport, or electronic ID card valid for travel abroad with more than 6 months left, two photos required (source: Viaggiare Sicuri)
• Switzerland: travel with a passport valid for 6 months, to be checked on eda.admin.ch
• United Kingdom: passport valid for 6 months on arrival, with at least one blank page (source: FCDO)
• Spain, Canada, United States: passport valid for 6 months, e-visa or visa on arrival
• Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia: a different regime, the visa must be requested from an Egyptian consulate well in advance
• When in doubt, a passport valid for 6 months is accepted for every nationality

Visa on arrival or e-visa: which should you choose?

Both are perfectly valid and cost the same for a single entry. The difference comes down to time and peace of mind.

We meet our travellers at the airport all year round, so here is what arrival really looks like. The visa on arrival is not bought at passport control but at a bank desk just before it, in the hall. You pay, a sticker goes into your passport, then you join the immigration queue. It takes five minutes when the airport is quiet, and a lot longer when three charter flights land at once.

Our advice: choose the e-visa if you land late at night, travel as a family or arrive on a full flight, and the visa on arrival if you would rather do nothing before leaving and have the exact amount in cash. There is one situation where the e-visa is clearly better: when your itinerary has a domestic flight right after landing.

Which special cases should you know about?

Seven situations come up regularly in our travellers' questions. None of them is a deal breaker, provided you think about it before booking.

• Stay limited to South Sinai (Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba, Taba, Saint Catherine): free 15 day stamp on arrival
• Leaving that area for Cairo, Luxor or a cruise: the full visa becomes mandatory again
• Sinai stamp: 15 days, not extendable, beyond that you need a standard tourist visa
• A visa issued against an ID card cannot be extended once you are in the country
• Dual nationality with Egypt: men aged 18 to 30 must settle their military service situation before travelling
• Currency: a maximum of 5,000 Egyptian pounds and 10,000 US dollars may be brought in
• Service and official passports: a biometric visa must be obtained before departure, no visa on arrival

Where can you check the official information before leaving?

Entry rules change, and 2026 has just proved it with two price rises in two months. Before you pack, open the official source for your own country: it is up to date by definition, ours is only up to date on the day we revise it. We never repeat a price or an alert level without giving you the address to check it yourself.

Information checked on 27 July 2026 against the visa2egypt.gov.eg portal, France Diplomatie, the British FCDO, Viaggiare Sicuri and the Belgian Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs. This page is reviewed whenever a rule changes.

• e-visa application: visa2egypt.gov.eg, the only official Egyptian government website
• France: diplomatie.gouv.fr, travel advice section, Egypt, entry and stay
• Belgium: diplomatie.belgium.be
• Switzerland: eda.admin.ch
• Canada: travel.gc.ca
• United Kingdom: gov.uk, foreign travel advice for Egypt
• United States: travel.state.gov
• Italy: viaggiaresicuri.it
• Spain: exteriores.gob.es

How does Osiris handle your formalities?

We do not apply for the visa on your behalf, nobody can legally do that on the official portal. What we do remove is all the remaining uncertainty. Before departure, every traveller receives a personalised sheet setting out which document to present for their nationality, the exact amount to bring in cash and the photos to slip into their bag.

On arrival, a member of our team is waiting for you at the airport exit, holding an Osiris sign. There is no queue to guess, no desk to hunt for and no driver to haggle with. This has been our job for twenty years, and it is the part of the trip our clients forget fastest, which is exactly the point.