When visiting Egypt, one requires a visa to enter the country, and this applies to Indian citizens as well. There are 2 types of visas for Indian passport holders:
Business Visa: Anyone visiting Egypt solely for business purposes must apply for this Egypt visa. The applicant must provide documents such as booked flight tickets, a cover letter from the company that the applicant will be representing during the business trip and an invitation letter from the partners in Egypt that must be sent directly to the consulate.
Tourist Visa: This type of Egypt visa is useful to anyone visiting the country for leisure and sightseeing purposes. While a tourist visa is valid for 90 days, one’s trip cannot extend beyond 30 days. This Egypt visa application process does not involve going for a personal interview unless one has no travel history or the immigration office insists on an interview. Some document requirements for this Egypt visa for Indians include a valid cover letter to the consular, booked flight tickets and gazette-attested past 6 months bank statements (with a minimum balance of Rs. 50,000).
Application process: Depending on one’s nationality, he/she can either apply for an Egypt visa online or in person. A lot of countries such as Albania, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Ireland, U.S.A. and U.K. can apply for an Egypt e-Visa. However, since India is not eligible for this, applicants will have to apply for Egypt visa for Indian citizens in person and not for an e-Visa.
Egypt does not outsource its visa processes to private agencies, and therefore, Indian passport holders do not have Egypt e-Visa or visa on arrival as an option unless one is travelling in a large group. To apply for an Egypt visa, Indian citizens must apply for their visas offline, and the application must be submitted to the consulate or the embassy depending in which state he/she resides. If the applicant cannot go to submit the documents, an agent or relative with an authorisation letter can go on his/her behalf and submit the application. One must check the opening hours of the office before going to apply.
The processing time takes 2 to 3 working days, and Indian applicants can go to collect the visas from the Egyptian embassy in Delhi or the consulate in Mumbai during the specified timings.
Documents required: The list of documents needed for the Egypt visa application depends on one’s nationality and the type of visa one applies. However, some standard documents one requires are the visa application form, a passport with 6 months validity and 2 blank pages for the visa stamps, recent photographs as per specifications, request letter to the consulate, confirmed flight and accommodation bookings, travel itinerary and photocopies of the first and last page of the passport. One must also provide previous 6 months bank details with a minimum balance of Rs. 50,000. The bank must also attest the bank statements. It is very important to thoroughly check the list of documents when applying for the Egypt visa. One must also check the amount of the fees since it varies with the type of visa one applies