Sinai visa - free entry to Egypt

Going on holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), you carefully calculate your future spending: $ 100 - excursions and entertainment, $ 15 - visa, $ 50 - purchases and souvenirs ... Stop! Do you know that you can save these notorious dollars? A trifle, of course, but it's better to spend it on something else, rather than on a simple stamp in your passport. How to do it? The secret is called the "Sinai visa".

However, our tourists - people are not idle, and therefore they will not be harmed by some legal information. To begin with, this free version of the entry into Egypt became possible as a result of the Camp David peace agreement signed after the war in 1978. Under his provisions, Israel pledged to transfer to Egypt - the rightful owner - the previously conquered south of the Sinai Peninsula. However, during the occupation, Israel built many hotels on the Red Sea coast here (in fact, the Sharm el-Sheikh resort itself grew out of investments from its northern neighbor), airports, and improved infrastructure. Therefore, in the transfer of territories, this state relied on some kind of compensation for the invested funds. Thus, the political decision directly touched on tourism: it was decided that Israelis can enter the peninsula free of charge and stay there for 15 days. So the Sinai visa was invented.

Initially, it was imposed only on Israeli citizens, but since 1982, amendments to the Camp David Agreement have been adopted. According to new regulations, the Sinai visa is imposed for all foreign tourists arriving in Egypt for up to 15 days via the airports of Sharm El Sheikh, Sant Catherine and Taba, the sea port of Nuweiba and the land checkpoint of Taba. The designated tourists should only state that they are not going to leave South Sinai and travel beyond it.

So, let's determine if we need a Sinai visa. If you plan to spend the whole vacation on the sand of the beaches, to swim in the warm sea and relax in an all inclusive hotel, as well as in the entertainment centers of Sharm El Sheikh and the surrounding area - this option is for you. And even if you plan to visit Mount Moses, St. Catherine's Monastery, Nuweibu, Dahab and even Israel and Jordan - you can do this with the Sinai stamp in your passport. And even in the Ras Mohammed coral preserve you will leave - it's true, only by sea. But neither Cairo, nor Luxor, nor Alexandria you will not be able to visit with this document. Sinai visa is not issued in Hurghada, but before the holidaymakers at this resort there are wide opportunities to travel with excursions at least the whole country.

Now consider what you need to do to get this free stamp. When you leave the plane, you are issued a migration card form. It must be filled in: indicate name, date of birth, the country of your citizenship, the hotel where you are going to rest. And on the back of the form you should write: SINAI ONLY (ONLY SINAI). With a filled card you walk proudly past the booths, in which you sell visas, straight to the border guards. You put a passport, a migration card, and say: "Pliz, put Sinai Stamp" (please put a stamp). Earlier there were cases when border guards tried - illegally - to force tourists to buy visas. It was said that supposedly only the Israelis or only in Taba put Sinai visa. 2013, however, became a turning point: after the revolution, when the tourist flow to the country was a little impoverished, the government became somewhat more loyal to those who come here "for free."