Egypt Visa 2026: Price, Online E-Visa and Visa on Arrival

Picture that classic pre-flight panic. Your swimsuit is neatly packed, in your daydreams you’re already blissfully floating in the gorgeously warm Red Sea, and then suddenly a cold sweat washes over you because you realise you haven’t sorted out your visa. Egypt is an enormously popular and wonderfully accessible destination, but you sadly can’t completely escape that slightly annoying bit of paperwork. The good news is I can reassure you right from the start, because getting your Egypt visa these days is an absolute breeze and you’ll handle it with one hand tied behind your back ☺️.

It’s entirely up to you whether you prefer total peace of mind and click everything into place in advance from the comfort of your sofa, or whether you’d rather add a dash of adrenaline and leave it to the last minute, since you can sort it all out on arrival right in the airport hall. From my other trips I know all too well that each way of dealing with the formalities has its own little appeal, but it always depends a great deal on exactly where you’re headed and what your holiday plans actually are.

This might surprise you, but sometimes it even happens that you pay absolutely nothing for the entry formalities. It sounds great, but trust me, it comes with some very clear rules and strict limitations, so let’s take a look together at how the whole Egypt visa situation really works. I’ll happily show you how to cleverly avoid unnecessary fees, which sneaky scams to watch out for, and how to save precious time and money for a lovely moment in a local café.

TL;DR

• Yes, UK citizens need a visa for Egypt, but don’t worry, getting it is lightning-fast and really very simple.
• A standard tourist visa costs 25 US dollars (roughly £20) and is valid for a lovely 30 days.
• You can sort it out in advance online as an e-visa, or simply buy it on arrival at the airport.
• When buying at the airport, always go to the official bank counter, and definitely not to the loud touts who charge double without batting an eyelid.
• If you’re only heading to the sunny southern Sinai (for example the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh), you’ll get a so-called free Sinai stamp valid for 15 days.
• With this free stamp, however, you sadly can’t take trips to Cairo, to famous Luxor, or visit the Thistlegorm wreck.
• Your passport must be valid for at least 6 more months after you plan to return home.
• Remember that every child must have their own passport and pays the full visa fee.

7 Things You Must Know About the Egypt Visa

Whether you’re flying out with a package holiday operator to catch a tan in a big resort, or bravely planning to explore ancient monuments on your own, the rules for entering the country are the same for everyone. I’ve put together a handy list of the seven most important points that will reliably save you from completely unnecessary stress right at the border.

1. Do UK Citizens Need a Visa?

The answer is perfectly simple, and it’s yes, dear travellers. UK citizens need a visa for Egypt, so you simply won’t get past those strict gentlemen at passport control without one 😅. But it isn’t some madly complicated bureaucratic process where you’d have to nervously produce bank statements or chase down invitation letters.

For the ordinary traveller, a standard single-entry tourist visa is more than enough. It nicely entitles you to stay in the country for 30 days, which is plenty for exploring all those magical pyramids and a heavenly rest on the beach. Just bear in mind that if you leave the country and want to return, you’ll simply need to buy a new one.

There’s also a multiple-entry option, but it’s understandably more expensive and you’ll only really need it in very specific cases. For a classic carefree holiday you don’t need to give it a second thought, so just focus on that basic single-entry permit.

2. How Much the Egypt Visa Costs and What to Watch Out For

The official price for a single-entry tourist visa is exactly 25 US dollars, which works out at roughly £20. You’ll pay this same amount whether you apply online from home or buy it directly at the airport, because the price is fixed by the Egyptian government itself.

When applying online, though, please be extremely careful of resellers. Sadly, the internet is full of unofficial sites that cleverly pose as government portals but are actually wily middleman agencies that happily tack on a hefty service fee to the base price.

It’s very easy to end up paying well over forty dollars instead of twenty-five, which is completely unnecessary. The result is exactly the same, except you’ve paid someone a small fortune simply for lazily copying your details into the official system, so always carefully look only for the verified government site.

3. How to Get the Egypt E-Visa Online Step by Step

If, like me, you like everything nicely and calmly prepared in advance, the e-visa is the absolutely ideal choice for you. Just open the official government portal (visa2egypt), where you first set up a user account, and although the site is in English, finding your way around it is fortunately fairly intuitive and pretty much anyone can manage it.

Then you simply fill in a short form with your personal details and basic information about your planned trip. Also have a scan of your passport data page ready, which you upload to the system very easily, and finally you just conveniently pay the fee with your regular bank card.

Approval of your application usually lands in your inbox within a few days, though the authorities strongly recommend not leaving it to the very last minute. To be safe, apply for your e-visa at least a week before departure, and don’t forget to print the approved document at home and carefully tuck it in with all your other documents.

💡 Tip: Please remember that the one and only official site for an online application is the Egyptian government portal, and all other websites are just needlessly overpriced middleman services that you’d do well to give a wide berth.

4. Egypt Visa on Arrival and the Well-Known Scam

Buying your visa nicely on arrival is probably the most popular option among travellers, and I have to admit it’s the one I choose most often myself. The moment you untangle your legs from the plane and step into the arrivals hall, you’ll spot, before passport control, the small bank counters. It’s right here that for 25 dollars you’ll pick up a little colourful sticker, which you then stick onto a free page in your passport with a bit of childlike delight.

But it’s precisely in that moment of distraction that a fairly common scam lies in wait for tourists, and I have to honestly warn you about it. The hall is often roamed by suspiciously smiley touts or representatives of various agencies who will try to subtly steer you towards so-called VIP desks, sweetly assuring you that it’ll be much faster there and with no waiting at all.

The catch, of course, is that these middlemen will charge you up to 50 dollars for the exact same sticker, so their markup for a seemingly faster service is effectively one hundred percent. Don’t let yourself be swayed, ignore them with a clear conscience, and head straight to the most ordinary bank windows—trust me, you won’t miss out on a thing 🙂

💡 Tip: The bank officials at the airport really aren’t keen on payment cards, so be sure to have cash in US dollars or euros ready in your wallet, ideally in smaller notes so they don’t have to fish around for change.

5. The Free Sinai Entry Stamp

Did you even know that in one specific case you can avoid paying for a visa entirely? If your trip is heading exclusively to those sun-drenched resorts in southern Sinai, you’ll receive a so-called Sinai stamp completely free on arrival. This applies to all those wonderful popular destinations such as Sharm el-Sheikh, laid-back Dahab, Nuweiba or Taba, and even the fascinating area around St Catherine’s Monastery.

This magical free stamp allows you to stay in the region for 15 days—at passport control you simply tell them with a smile that you have no plans to leave the Sinai Peninsula, and the official will gladly press the right stamp into your passport. You’ll save a lovely 25 dollars, which you can spend with far greater joy on, say, an amazing coffee in a local café or some cute souvenirs to take home.

But it does come with one fairly huge and uncompromising limitation, because with this Sinai stamp you simply cannot travel anywhere outside the designated area. So if, halfway through your holiday, you suddenly fancy popping over to Cairo to see the pyramids, off to Luxor for some history, or to the famous Thistlegorm dive wreck, you’re sadly out of luck, because for all these bigger trips you absolutely need the standard paid visa.

6. Visa for Children and Passport Validity

As soon as you start planning a family holiday, don’t get so swept up in the preparations that you forget about your littlest travellers. These days the rule is that every child must have their very own passport, regardless of age, because adding children to their parents’ passports is long gone—so even a few-month-old baby needs its own little booklet with an adorable photo.

At the same time, brace yourself for the fact that there are absolutely no discounts for children, so you have to pay the full visa fee for every family member, which is those 25 dollars per head. So if you’re flying as a classic family of four, these essential entry formalities will set you back a round one hundred dollars in total, which is already a noticeable line in the budget.

But the most critically important thing of all is the validity period of your document, because your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after your planned return from sunny Egypt. If your passport were to expire even a little earlier, the uncompromising officials may simply not let you board the plane—and since getting a new passport in the UK can take several weeks, please check your documents well in advance 😅

7. Practical Tips: Travel Registration, Payments and Changing Conditions

Before any trip further afield outside the EU, I wholeheartedly recommend registering your travel plans with the UK Foreign Office (the “FCDO travel advice” service), because it’s completely free and genuinely only takes a few minutes over your morning coffee. In case of some unexpected emergency at your destination, at least the authorities will know about you and can provide swift help if needed.

And when it comes to that eternal subject of money, Egypt is probably a country of the greatest imaginable contrasts. While tickets to ancient monuments or the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) can often be paid for by card, on the busy, dusty streets the situation is completely the opposite. At the colourful markets, while haggling fiercely with taxi drivers, or when handing out the obligatory baksheesh, you’ll simply need cash, ideally in Egyptian pounds.

Above all, please don’t forget that baksheesh is an absolute norm in this beautiful country and an everyday necessity, automatically expected for carrying heavy suitcases, a meticulously cleaned room, or even the smallest bit of help out on the street. And to finish, I have one tiny but all the more sincere warning, because those tricky travel rules really can change at any time, so always double-check all the latest information shortly before departure on the official FCDO website.

💡 Tip (Package Holidays): If you’re flying with a reliable tour operator, you actually have a huge advantage in that the rep at the airport will usually point you exactly where to go, and sometimes the visa is even included in the price of your package. Before you book that dream holiday, though, be sure to take a look at our comparison of holidays to Egypt, because our clever system compares offers from different operators for the very same hotels and always finds you the cheapest option.

💡 Tip (Flights): If, on the other hand, you prefer more adventurous independent travel, be sure to keep a close eye on the latest flight prices, since our search engine updates them every 20 minutes across all the airlines, so you’ll never miss a great deal to sunny Hurghada or Marsa Alam.

Practical Summary and Guide Prices

So that you don’t get completely lost in all those details and numbers, I’ve put together a simple, clear table with up-to-date information for 2026, where you can quickly find everything essential you need to know for a smooth entry into the country.

I just have to point out, to be safe, that the listed prices in pounds are only a guide and depend a great deal on the current exchange rate against the US dollar, so I genuinely strongly recommend having the exact amount ready in cash if you decide to buy your visa on the spot.

Where to Next

If you’ve already sorted out the annoying paperwork, it’s high time to pour a glass of wine and start planning the trip itself. If you still have that traveller’s indecisiveness and are dithering over which resort to choose, definitely take a relaxed read of our big article on where to go on holiday in Egypt. You’ll find out where the most beautiful soft-sand beaches await and where to head for absolutely amazing snorkelling.

For all lovers of colourful coral reefs and a laid-back holiday atmosphere, I highly recommend exploring Sharm el-Sheikh: 13 tips on what to see and do there. Trust me, this is exactly where you can get in on that free Sinai stamp, so you’ll save a few quid on entry fees that you can put towards an excellent coffee in a local café instead.

Before you start eagerly packing your bags, though, it’s also worth checking when to go to Egypt / the weather, so you avoid the worst summer scorchers when you can barely move, or the cooler windy days. And to make sure nothing’s missing from your luggage, I’ve also put together a handy list of what to pack for a holiday in Egypt.

Frequently Asked Questions