FLNan

Hello everyone,

Traveling with Princess Cruises, we planned our own overnight excursion. Princess will not help us get a visa when we plan an overnight stay on our own. A private Egyptian guide has advised me that I don't need a visa.

Is it true that we don't need a visa? I hope someone knows and will advise me.

Thanks,
Nannette

thit_cho

If you are Afghani, Algerian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bangladeshi, Bosnian, Chechnyan, Croatian, Georgian, Indian, Indonesian, Iraqi, Iranian, Israeli, Kazakh, Kirgh, Lebanese, Macaonese, Macedonian, Moldavian, Montenegron, Moroccon, Pakistani, Palestinian, Filipino, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Sri-Lankan, Tadzhiki, Thai, Tunisian, Turkmeni, Ukrainian, Uzbeki or from any African county other than South Africa you will need a visa. Otherwise, you can purchase a visa upon arrival.

sandi

For $10 you can a Visa on arrival.

FLNan

Thank you thit_cho, As an American, I'm out of luck!

-Sandi- Have you had experience arriving in Port Said with a cruise ship? If so,
is it at Port Said that I can get the visa stamp? I know I can get it at the airports upon arrival, I just don't know if I can get the stamp when I am arriving at the Port.
Thank ahead of time to anyone who has an answer to this question.

Nannette

thit_cho

Americans can get visas on arrival, but there was no way I could ascertain your citizenship from your post.

sandi

Nannette -

Two choices

1) Find the Egypt Consular or Embassy website, search for Visas. Often their is information as to who needs, how to obtain, where (airports, seaports, land borders), and how much.

2) Call the Egypt Consular or Embassy office and ask. There's a consular office in NYC, believe on 2nd Avenue; the embassy is located in Washington DC.

FLNan

Thit_cho- I am an American, I cannot believe I didn't disclose that. I'll try to be more careful. Thank you so much for your helpfulness.

Sandi- After calling the Consular, I found out that I can get my tourist visa at the port, since I'm with the cruise and an American. They didn't disclose that until the third phone call. I told them that my Egyptian guide and Arab.net declare that I don't have to send my passport in to the consulate to get a visa, that I can just get it at the port. Then she concurred. It is so frustrating! Thanks for the help.
Nannette

sandi

Figured you could get the Visa at the port.

Unfortunately, unless you are specific when contacting foreign consular or embassy offices (though same can be true with major US corporations), you often have to make repeat calls to get the information you actually need.

Glad it worked for you.
Download the Egyptian Visa form from their website, have it completed, along with your fee... process should go quickly.

sunshine007

I called the Egyptian Consolute in San Francisco to find out whether I could satisfy their requirement of an AIDS test for working foreigners by taking a test in the US. They told me that "they'd never heard of a requirement" that foreigners get an AIDS test before working in Egypt.

I got over here & of course there was such a requirement.

Grcxx3

Yup - my husband had to have an AIDS test every year that we were there in order to renew his work permit.

FLNan

Sandi- I never thought of filling out the forms ahead of time. Great tip! Thanks again!

Sunshine007 & Grcxx3- Unbelievable!!

I felt that there had to be another way, that is why I called the Washington DC consulate and the NY consulate several times. I also emailed the Egyptian I.M.S. and Arab.net. Finally, it is over!

Thank you all for your help.

going_2_africa

This has little to do with the Egyptian visa itself, but I feel I must say it - not to chastise but to clarify.

One is not tested for AIDS. AIDS is a syndrome based on advancement/progression of HIV. In reality, one is not even typically tested for the HIV itself. The tests are looking for HIV antibodies. There are tests that specifically "look for" the HIV (called a PCR), but they are quite expensive and are not typically used to test/diagnose one's HIV status - negative or positive. They are used, more often, after a positive antibody test in order to determine "how much" HIV is in a person's bloodstream.

Again, I'm not chastising. I think when we are all discussing, on this board, travels to the continent that is the hardest hit with this pandemic, it is important to know and understand the basic facts.

Shane

Grcxx3

Shane - Valid point. Thank you for clarifying the terminology.

I was only pointing out that - just as I had what was called an "HIV Test" when I was pregnant with each of my children - my husband was required to have what was called an "HIV Test" as a condition of continued employment for the 4 years we lived in Egypt.

sunshine007

Jeez Louise! (Or should I say, Jeez Going To Africa) Picky, picky, picky.

I used common terminology that everyone can understand and I was using it as an example of something totally unrelated -- how the Egyptian consulates don't give you the correct information.

Frankly under these circumstances, I don't think you need to lecture us on what the correct terminology is. And I will continue to use the term AIDs Test.

going_2_africa

Sunshine, it has nothing to do with "picky, picky, picky." It has everything to do with correct, correct, correct.

It's a shame that when someone points out basic facts about a disease that has killed millions of people and orphans thousands of children a day on the continent you so diligently post about visiting, you take such offense and dogmatically remain pig-headed.

If you drive 10 miles to work and someone points out a route that is only 5 miles, would you continue to drive your original route for the sake of saving face.

I am not going to get caught up in a flame war with you. If you want to continue to be incorrect, so be it.

I respectfully withdraw from this conversation.

Shane

thit_cho

Shane, I think in your example, you would have pointed out that the drive was only 9.89769 miles, not 10 miles. None of us are physicians, and frankly, pig-headed or not, I'm not sure what your post is about. For a lot of reasons, the test is referred to as an AIDS test, not an HIV antibody test.

going_2_africa

Just because we are not physicians is not a "free ticket" for ingorance. I am not a physician either. That type of ignorance is what will keep some people believing that hugging an orphaned child in Africa might cause them to become infected.

Oddly enough, I have never routinely heard it referred to as an AIDS test, probably because such a test doesn't exist.

You seem to get right down to the paticulars in your post, "...Afghani, Algerian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bangladeshi, Bosnian, Chechnyan, Croatian, Georgian, Indian, Indonesian, Iraqi, Iranian, Israeli, Kazakh, Kirgh, Lebanese, Macaonese, Macedonian, Moldavian, Montenegron, Moroccon, Pakistani, Palestinian, Filipino, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Sri-Lankan, Tadzhiki, Thai, Tunisian, Turkmeni, Ukrainian, Uzbeki or from any African county other than South Africa" in order to "educate" someone.

I fail to see the difference.

Have the best day

Shane

sunshine007

I googled "AIDS test" and found this from none other than the his brochure is from the National Institutes of Health

Should You Have the HIV Test?

This booklet talks about testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. If you should take the test to know if you have HIV, (sometimes called the AIDS test), answer these questions.

sunshine007

This should have read:

I googled "AIDS test" and found this from none other than a brochure from the National Institutes of Health

"Should You Have the HIV Test?

This booklet talks about testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. If you should take the test to know if you have HIV, (sometimes called the AIDS test), answer these questions..."