GETTING AN EGYPT TOURIST VISA IN ANKARA/TURKEY FOR A THAI PERSON

Today i want to share my experience of getting my Tai wife a tourist visa to visit Egypt. The Experience was awful i can describe. Egypt one of those countries a Thai person had to apply visa before visiting. Thailand is not on the visa exemption list and you can not apply online too. Thailand is not on the drop down menu at the Egypt visa website https://visa2egypt.gov.eg/eVisa/Home. 

Me and my wife go to Thailand once or twice each year. And instead of going by a direct flight i fancy dropping on a country on our way there. Last year we visited Dubai, and she applied visa online smoothly. We currently reside in Turkey. I booked a flight Antalya to Hurgada, we stay there couple of days, later take a bus to Cairo, from there another transfer flight to Bangkok. We were aiming to stay up to 7 days in Egypt to see Luxor in Hurgada and Islamic Cairo, Citadel Saladin, Pyramids of Giza, Egyptian Museum and markets.  

There are two Egyptian consulate in Turkey, one in Ankara, and one in Istanbul. Depending on where you are residing you had apply from there. There is no postal application, all in person, two visits you need to do one to drop and one to collect. We are residing in Antalya so, Ankara consulate serve us not Istanbul. I learned this hard way, no information anywhere, because i was assuming consulate is consulate, you just be apply from any consulate in the country. 

We first went to Istanbul consulate, very posh place. The building is beautiful next to Istanbul Bosporus. From there you hand in your application to the receptionist there. I looked at the required documents online. Handed in to the receptionist there, he looked to everything and told us to go to Ankara, this not make sense to me at all. So we went to Ankara instead. You can only hand in your documents between 11:00-13:00 Wednesday-Friday. No appointment needed. Other times the place is closed. You can pick up your visa on Tuesday afternoon. I was there on the opening times. I handed the documents, and told me that she needs to renew resident visa, it was expiring in 3 months. Must be over 6 months minimum. 

So, disappointed we had ack to Antalya, wait for her to renew residency permit, which would take months  so we had to re-schedule flights by 6 months and hotel booking which cost me under $120-130 or something. 

Renewing residency permit is a story on itself. Anyway she got a new 1 year residency permit, about 55 days before the flight. So, we head back to Ankara on the very next available day. We can't wait to apply. Two person from Ankara to Antalya cost about £40 return by bus, we take a night bus, so we are there in the morning. You can also take a bus to Konya from there high speed train two Ankara. This way a bit comfortable, but you pay %25 more for the journey.

I emailed consulate website days before to make sure nothing missing on my documents as i could not find the info on the embassy website. They emailed me back with this reply. 

"Hello, 

This documents is required for visa,

1)HOTEL pre-reservation

2) Flight Pre-Reservation

3) 4x6 (1) Pieces

5) Passport Front Side Photocopy/ valid for at least one year

6)  ID Photocopy and Residence permit must be valid for at least 6 months

7) Visa Application Form will be filled in embassy

8) Application in English signed personally by the visa applicant

9) Bank Statement in USD for the last 3 months. At least 5000 USD

All documents are delivered to the embassy and then sent to Cairo. When a response of acceptance is received, you will be contacted to come to obtain the visa. 

You should come to the embassy and submit the original documents,

Please note that the working hours of the consular section are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11 am to 1 pm to receive applications. 

BEST REGARDS

EMBASSY OF EGYPT - ANKARA / TÜRKİYE"

One thing confuse me that 9) Bank Statement in USD for the last 3 months. At least 5000 USD

what is that about? On the Washington embassy website in USA, this is not required, why require here? Fortunately i had the required amount but in her Thai account. But the receptionist thee told me that i need 5000USD in a Turkish account. Not accepted USD in foreign account. Since i did not have that. I had to open a USD bank account transfer the money paying %3 commission and transfer fees. Which i though does not make sense for me. This would increase the cost of visiting the country. Now i had to book a hotel about £25 a night, and had come here again to collect my passport paying another £40 bus journey. And calculating the conversion fee. It is becomes cheaper to book a direct flight to Bangkok from Istanbul instead transfer flight. We all expect fancy transfer flight being cheaper, never mind the comfort but no ability to see countries still calculating visa requirements and hassle of applying visa, in my opinion it becomes cheaper booking directly. 

Anyway since i am already on this. And my wife eager to see Egypt since she is been watching other Thai people visiting Egypt from Facebook videos. So i decided since we come to apply all this way and all we need is just a peace of paper. we stayed at a hotel. I asked the receptionist there if it is going to be ok since on the reply email it said bank statement had to be minimum 3 months old, before transferring the money and he said no problem. I transferred USD from my GBP account. But this was going to be newly opened account. I tell another page on how to open a bank account in Turkey for a foreigner on another chapter, the only required document is passport, registered address and willing clerk. 

So, the first thing we did the next morning is to go to the Consulate. There were some people there before us, applying business, work visas, i think. Don't see many people or any people applying for tourist visa. I think we are really unusual. This is the third time i had to come here, i yet to see a single person applying for a tourist visa. 

I handed him the documents. Also i handed in a cover letter. Telling what i will do, where i will visit on the entire 7 days. He checked everything and told me that, "we will now send this to Egypt" I asked how long can this can take, he said up to wo months. I asked how will you contact me, He said, he will call the number on the application, i asked if he could tell what number is he gonna be calling from. And he gave me a mobile  number so that i can register on my phone, So that i know who called so not to miss this important call.

About 15 days later i see a missed number on my phone, the very next day i call back. And asking why have i been called for? I truly was expecting the good news but he said her visa was not approved. I was completely shocked. Was it me? Or was it them? I absolutely did nothing wrong here. I handed all the documents they required to the detail. I asked for some feedback. They said they receive reply from Egypt. I absolutely do not know why my visa was not approved. You usually get a letter telling you what to do if you want to re-apply. This is very primitive on the Egyptian side. I knew, there was nothing on my side. I handed the documents they required to the detail. Not accepting visa i think, they are not accepting tourist, maybe because Egypt now a bit dangerous. They do not want a Thai person to be in danger in Egypt they must have thought. That is my only explanation. 

Now, since i do not need a visa to apply before visiting Egypt. I am in a dilemma. Should i cancel all the flights? Or maybe i go alone and book another flight to her, direct flight. I made a huge mistake booking a transfer flight by Egypt. I really did not think A Thai person had to go this trouble to visit Egypt, as Egypt i thought very tourist friendly place and would welcome visitors. 

So this is a reminder to any person, that think twice before visiting Egypt for short time if you are not on the visa excemption list.