The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities cancelled all previous entry facilities granted to citizens of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan and required them to obtain an entry visa in advance before travelling to Egypt, under new rules that took effect on Sunday, 1 November 2026. The Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies notified tourism companies of the rules in its periodic letter No. 207 of 2026, issued on the ministry’s instructions.
The rules require citizens of the three countries aged 16 to 40 to travel accompanied by a family member, meaning a father, mother, husband, wife or children, and require each individual to carry $3,000 in cash, and $5,000 for a family arriving together. The rules require their local or Egyptian phone numbers to be registered with the tourism company responsible for them, and oblige companies to prepare a specific tour programme for the groups, hold passports on arrival and return them on departure, and immediately notify the competent authorities if any member misses the scheduled travel date.
The General Administration of Passports, Immigration and Nationality stamps accompanying family members with the head of the family’s arrival stamp, and he must leave with all family members, while the rules bar changing the purpose of a tourist visa to any other purpose. The new rules do not cover citizens of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as the current rules applied to them remain in force.
Photo: Ad Meskens via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
