Egypt Visas, Taxes and Money for Digital Nomads

Citizens of many countries, including the UK, EU, US, Canada and Australia, can get a tourist visa in one of two ways.

• Visa on arrival: a single-entry visa for $30, giving 30 days, sold at approved airports. At Cairo airport, it became a digital, card-only visa costing $36 (including a $6 service fee) from 1 August 2026. At other airports, bring clean US dollar notes.
• E-visa: the official Egypt e-Visa portal sells single-entry tourist visas for $30 and multiple-entry visas for $65. Apply a week or more ahead, and use only the government portal, because copycat sites charge more.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months after arrival, with a blank page. Some nationalities need a visa from an Egyptian embassy before travel, so check yours.

If you fly into Sharm el-Sheikh and only want the South Sinai coast, you can skip the visa and get a free entry stamp for up to 15 days. It covers the resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba only. If you want to go anywhere else, such as Cairo or Luxor, or stay longer than 15 days, you need a full visa, so long-stayers in Dahab should buy the visa on arrival instead of taking the free stamp. Arrivals at the Taba land border from Israel pay a border tax for a Sinai-only stamp.

Tourist visas are extended at the Passports, Immigration and Nationality Administration, whose main Cairo office is in Abbassia, with other offices in governorates such as the Red Sea and South Sinai. The office you use may depend on where you live. Long-stayers typically ask for several months at a time, often up to six, and renew repeatedly; the length granted is up to the officer.

What to bring:

• Your passport and visa or e-visa printout
• Photocopies of your passport’s photo page and visa and entry stamps
• One or two passport photos
• Your address in Egypt, ideally in Arabic, with a lease or booking
• A bank or exchange receipt showing you converted the fee from US dollars or another foreign currency into pounds, dated shortly before you apply

Fees have risen several times since 2023, so ask the office for the current amount. Go early and expect it to take most of a day.

Don’t leave on an expired visa. A fine applies if your visa has expired by more than 14 days, and you may be held up at the airport. If your visa is about to run out, extend it before you go, or check the current rules with an immigration office.

A multiple-entry e-visa ($65) suits people who plan trips to Jordan, Israel or elsewhere during their stay. In 2023 Egypt also announced a five-year multiple-entry tourist visa, reported at $700, allowing stays of up to 90 days at a time. It is issued through Egyptian embassies and consulates, and availability varies, so ask the one that serves you whether it is offered.

Egyptian law requires a work permit to work for an Egyptian employer, and a tourist visa doesn’t allow that. Working online for a foreign employer or your own clients abroad isn’t addressed by the law. In practice, thousands of nomads do it in Dahab and Cairo and it isn’t enforced, but it isn’t formally permitted either. Never take paid local work without a permit.

People who want more than a string of tourist extensions have a few routes:

• Work permit and residence through an Egyptian employer.
• Student residence for a full-time course at a recognised institution, including some Arabic language programmes.
• Property and investment residence, linked to buying property or investing above government thresholds.
• Family residence for spouses of Egyptian citizens.

These are slow, paper-heavy processes, usually handled with a lawyer or the employer or school.

Egypt treats you as a tax resident if you have a permanent home in Egypt or stay more than 183 days in a 12-month period, continuously or not. Residents are taxed on income earned in Egypt, and on foreign income only if their centre of business or professional activity is in Egypt. Personal income tax rates run from 0% to 27.5%, with the top rate above EGP 1.2 million a year.

A nomad paid from abroad who stays less than 183 days is generally outside Egyptian tax. Someone living in Egypt most of the year and running a freelance business from there could, in principle, be taxable, though enforcement against nomads has been rare. Remember your home country may still tax you. This is a general guide, not tax advice; see our digital nomad taxes guide and speak to an accountant if you plan to stay most of a year.

Egypt uses the Egyptian pound (EGP), often written LE or E£. After several devaluations, it traded at about 54 to the US dollar in October 2026. Since the 2024 float, the gap between official and street rates has largely closed, so change money at banks and licensed exchange offices. Keep small notes for tips, taxis and markets, where cash is still the norm.

ATMs from banks such as National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and CIB are everywhere in the cities and dispense pounds, with withdrawal limits and fees that vary by bank. Always decline the ATM’s currency conversion. Cards are accepted in malls, supermarkets, hotels and better restaurants in Cairo, Alexandria and the resorts, but less so in Dahab and Luxor.

Opening an Egyptian bank account generally needs a residence permit, so most nomads on tourist visas don’t bother, and rely on foreign cards, cash and services such as Wise. With an account, you can use InstaPay, Egypt’s instant payment app, which is widely used for rent and transfers.