Egypt implements biometric visa requirement for foreign officials

Egypt imposes biometric visa requirement on officials from Schengen countries, US and UK after those countries imposed the restriction on Egyptian visitors

Ahram Online, Sunday 15 Jan 2012

An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman has said the officials of 27 Schengen Area countries, plus the United States and the United Kingdom, would have to show biometric visas when entering the country from Sunday.

“Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr has ordered Egyptian embassies in those countries to implement the decision starting from today. We are giving them the same treatment they give us,” the ministry’s spokesman Amr Roshdy said on Sunday.

“The decision will apply to all officials, including those who have diplomatic passports. The employees who work in the foreign embassies in Egypt will also have to follow the new rule.”

The biometric visa is already used in countries that are part of the Schengen agreement.

The decision to apply the measure on Egyptians visiting the Schengen countries, the United States and United Kingdom a few months ago was met with resentment by the Egyptian government.

The biometric visa requires visitors to submit a digital photo and fingerprints for approval.

“Because of the key role tourism plays in boosting the Egyptian economy, the new measure will not apply to ordinary visitors who come to Egypt for tourism,” Roshdy added.

Advice for those who want to go to Egypt

Egypt is certainly a magical country that is able to win thanks to his charm made ​​of ancient history, a culture whose origins are lost forever and stunning scenery, the world that few others can match. Difficult to determine which are the most beautiful destinations in Egypt, but still it is possible to identify some of its most famous and popular tourist resort. Among the new entries in recent years point out once Marsa Alam, a small fishing village only a few years has been discovered by tourists, while striving to preserve intact its natural beauty that seems not yet been touched by mass tourism. If you seek peace, relaxation and simple contact with nature then a resort Marsa Alam is just right for you. Definitely the most developed tourist is instead Sharm el Sheikh, long one of the most famous places of Egypt, located in the southern part of the Sinai peninsula and lapped by the Red Sea. Impossible, then, forget the town of El questions, located along the southern coast of Egypt to the border with Sudan, just halfway between Hurghada and Marsa Alam, Dehab, a charming town on the southeastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula , once a small fishing village, now well-known seaside resort on the Gulf of Aqaba, Safaga, port and tourist center of the Red Sea, Hurghada, modern and fun town. Finally, among the last places in Egypt that have established themselves as tourist destinations of the first level, you must cite Port Ghalib is located along one of the most beautiful stretches of coast a few km from Marsa Alam.

Grand Egyptian Museum to open in 2015

Cairo - The Grand Egyptian Museum, which will house more than 100,000 artefacts and monuments from the pharaonic era, is to be inaugurated in 2015, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said Tuesday.

It is considered to be the world's largest museum. Work on the third and final stage has started and will take up to three-and-a-half years and cost 300 million dollars, the minister said.

The 5-billion-Egyptian-pound (828-million-dollar) project is being built on 117 acres of land on the outskirts of Cairo.

It will also provide 20,000 new jobs at a time when the economy, in particular the tourism sector, has taken a major hit because of the unrest in the country since the popular revolt that led to the ouster of president Hosny Mubarak in February.

The current museum, which was inaugurated in 1902, is situated in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, which was the epicentre of the protests that forced Mubarak out of power.

The government listed 18 items that have disappeared during clashes between protesters and security forces.
The foundation stone of the new Grand Egyptian Museum was laid in 2002, to offer visitors more space as the Tahrir museum is overcrowded with artefacts that are not properly displayed.