Egypt - Apply for a Short Term Journalists Visa

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Procedure

The procedure is divided into Three stages

Stage 1 (before arrival)

• You need to visit the nearest Egyptian Embassy and apply for journalist short term visa. Nearly all applications are approved without any difficulties.
• The embassy then requests the "approval" from the Foreign yu Media Department in Cairo.
• The Foreign Media Department then sends the approval to the embassy, together with the customs clearance (for the equipment to be brought into the country).
• Then you need to re-visit the embassy to provide a list of all the equipment to be brought into Egypt.
• The Consul may refuse the issue of Egyptian visa, shorten number of entries and the period of its validation. In that case no explanations are supposed to be given, the consular fee received is not refunded.
• Finally the embassy issues the visa stamp and the customs clearance for the equipment.
• Making a trip with purposes different from the visa type, and different from purposes declared while requesting a visa is illegal in Egypt.

Stage 2 (after arrival)

• With the visa stamp in your passport you travel to Egypt.
• After arrival in Egypt, your first point of contact is the FMD (Foreign Media Department) in cairo, to provide them with a full list of all the sites you would like to visit or film.
• Finally, the Foreign Media Department will issue the necessary paper work: 'permission' to film the listed sites, and an 'ID', which you must carry with you at all times.

Stage 3 (permits required to meet with government officials)

In order to process the permits required to film and meet with government officials, you can submit the following information to the Egyptian Press Office in the Foreign Country:

• A letter of introduction that explains who you are, the news organization you are working for, the purpose of your trip to Egypt, and specific details about the nature of your assignment there.

• Any journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and all other members of a media delegation must provide the following information: name, passport number, a copy of the passport, date of travel to Egypt, as well as contact information while in Egypt.

• Some foreign Media Press Office, highly encourages you to submit digital copies of passports, because faxed copies are often fuzzy and unusable.

• A list of official meetings and/or interviews that the delegation or the journalists seek to conduct while in Egypt as well as the general topics that shall be discussed.

• A list of all locations where you wish to film as well as the purpose of the filming.

• A specific list of all film equipment the delegation or the journalist will be taking with him/her to Egypt.

• For underwater, aerial and safari filming, you can submit a detailed map outlining the specific locations you wish to film.

• A copy of a letter of credit issued for the valued amount of all photography and film equipment being brought into the country . The original letter of credit should be taken with you and presented at customs in the Cairo airport.

Note

If you fail to follow the above mentioned requirements, your visa application will not be processed.

Visa processing starts only after all necessary documents are submitted.

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Required Documents

• Scanned Valid National Passport (minimum period validity 6 months at the time of travel)or any acceptable Travel document;
• Printed copy of a completed Online Visa Application Form(with one passport size photograph attached), and a copy of Payment Confirmed page;
• A letter of invitation from local contact(s) in Egypt;
• A letter of introduction from the organization(s) that journalists work for or represent;
• A copy of itinerary while on duty in Egypt;
• List of equipment accompanying applicant(s);
• Scanned copy of your passport's bio data page (the page with your photo).
• Your profession.
• Estimated date of arrival.
• Payment.Visa Fee (cash only)Paid in advance
• Application form
• A valid Passport.
• Two recent passport photos.
• Visa reference number (from Egypt).
• Letter from employer.

Office Locations & Contacts

Ministry of Tourism

Mr Hisham Zaazou img

Address Cairo International Conference, Nasr City, Cairo

Phone no. 22611732

Fax 22637199

E-mail N/A

Website http://www.tourism.gov.eg

Ministry of Manpower and Immigration

DR. Nahed ElAshry img

Address 3 Youssief Abaas St Nasr City Cairo

Phone no. 22609366 - 22609368 - 22618019

Fax 22618019

E-mail [email protected]

Website http://www.manpower.gov.eg

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Nabil Fahmy img

Address Masbero-Kornish El Nile St.Cairo

Phone no. 25749817

Fax 25748822

E-mail [email protected]

Website http://www.mfa.gov.eg

Those in USA use the following Address.

Press Office in Cairo, Airport Branch

Business Hours: 24 hours a day

Phone numbers are internal, to be dialed from an airport phone

New Airport Office: 2334

Old Airport Office: 3666

Arrival Gate Office: 6566

Administrative Office: 4777

The National Bank of Egypt, New York Branch

40 East 52nd Street

New York, NY 10022

Phone: 212-326-8000

Fax: 212-755-6944

Website: http://www.nbeny.com

Letter of Credit Issuance

Khaled Gohrab,

Tel:(212) 326-8116

Eligibility

• One must be a journalist visiting Egypt on the short term mission of not less than 6 weeks gathering news or capturing news or Filming sites in Egypt on behalf of the foreign organization.
• This Visa is granted to the following category of people.
• Only Journalist accreditation is required. Visiting crew must pick up and sign for the accreditation in Cairo.

Fees

Explain the fees structure which is required for obtaining the certificate/document.

Validity

This journalist visa is valid for 3 months only with a single entry. Regardless of the entry status, it can be renewed upon request.

• Processing permits for filming specific locations in Egypt takes 10 to 14 days.

• Getting approval for interviews with government officials requires 10 to 14 days.

• Getting approval for underwater, safari or aerial filming takes three weeks.

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

Processing time take less than a one month but because of the complexity it can exceed that time. Visas for journalists cannot be fast-tracked and may take longer than five (5) working days to process;

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

• If you intend to visit or film sites in Egypt, then you need to obtain a journalist Visa which include those sites in the list of the sites you intend to film.
• If you secure permission from the Foreign Affairs Media Department for the whole list (as of the above procedure) then you can visit and film in all the sites approved in list.
• It is therefore necessary to include all the sites you intend to visit in the list before you submit it to the Foreign Affairs media Department.
• If you need business visas then a local Ethiopian sponsor company will need to apply for you.

Required Information

• Documents customs clearance for the equipments to be brought into the country.
• A list of all the equipment to be brought into Egypt.
• A valid passport for less than 6 months to expire.

Need for the Document

The Government Press Office in Cairo, which is a part of Egypt's State Information Service, is the office responsible for all procedures related to the travel of media delegations to Egypt. Journalists on short-term visits for periods of not more than 6 weeks require NO work permits. However, they will only be accredited for the duration and purpose of their assignment in Egypt.

Information which might help

Rules of entry and exit of equipment to Egypt

• It is expected that all photography or film equipment a delegation or a journalist takes to Egypt be solely used for work related purposed and that all such equipment be taken out of the country once the delegation or journalist leaves; this stipulation allows for the exemption of any taxes that would have otherwise been levied for entering such equipment to Egypt.

• In the event of taking more than one camera to Egypt, you submit to the airport authorities a standby letter of credit whose value should match that of the equipment. This letter exempts you from having to pay any custom dues, under the agreement that the equipment will be taken out of the country again when you leave. A standby letter of credit (as opposed to a commercial or documentary letter of credit) is drawn up with the understanding that it will not be drawn upon unless the bearer of the letter fails to fulfill his or her side of the agreement (the subsequent removal of all equipment that was initially brought into the country).

• The letter of credit should state that the newspaper or the TV network or the news agency that is sponsoring the traveling delegation or journalist guarantees that it holds an amount of money equal to that of the value of the specific equipment that will be entering Egypt. This letter MUST be issued by the National Bank of Egypt or from another bank that has a branch in Egypt.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

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Others

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