Are you a visitor, visa holder or a violator?

    

       Lol, why am I so tickled by my own title? No, but seriously, that is like the million dollar question. Every single person you meet wants to ask you, some do, but most won’t. Don’t worry, I’ve asked plenty of people myself just to receive painfully ambiguous responses... I might as well have not bothered. I think that’s my number one motivator in being 100 % transparent about my experience here. So much anxiety would have been lifted when making this move if people would have been equally transparent. But hey, what doesn’t kill ya’ makes ya’ stronger, right? Lol
     Okaaaaay, for beginners...  I’m a visa holder, at least now anyway. 😍🙌🏽 (Alhamdulillah) I’m going to tell you how you can accomplish this in one way or another. 
     Back story, we came to Egypt on a decision that was little more than pondered on for three months. Our supplications and determination were our guarantees. Truth be told, we were not harping over the visa questions until we got here. As is the American mindset, we figured we could buy a visa, and pay more to have it extend
ed, and pay more to have it extended and pay more to get one for years instead of months... and all would be solved with money. I mean, after all, isn’t that the process that is offered to non-Americans when they want to come to America... Pfhuh, why would it be any different in Egypt? …you know you’re not a traveler when this is your thought process hahaha.

      We came to Egypt like American can travel to much of the modern world. We bought our tickets via an agent and as a family, we traveled a direct flight to Egypt. Upon arrival, we were asked only about our reason for coming to Egypt. Obviously, we said the obvious truth, “We’re coming to learn Arabic in Egypt”. That’s a perfectly normal and acceptable answer, and in our case, it was also the truth. The gentleman behind the glass took our passport and gave us a stamp for a tourist visa and said it would be good for 30 days. We briefly asked about getting a longer visa and he just about shrugged us off to keep it moving and said, “No, no thirty days.”

     We didn’t have much of a clue as to where we were going next. Mostly we were clinging on to the idea that with an account full of dollars the doors of abundant choices would open up to us at any moment. Finding an apartment would only take a few days and we would have our pic of the lot being as though this American dollar would stretch so far... lol Well some parts of this you will see are true. Anyway, I was pleased to find an Egyptian friend of mine and her husband waiting for us at the Exit and welcoming us with open arms. I think she was as shocked to see us as we were to see her. Something about coming to Egypt is not a reality until it actually happens. We briefly asked her hand her husband about getting a longer visa and they were short on any ideas, other than marrying Egyptians... obviously not the option for us. So we just pressed on, sorting out a way to get our things from the airport departure gate and into our new home. (Apartment hunting stories to come)

    Long story short, we ended up in an apartment and immediately set our focus to figuring out a way to extend our visa. Finally, we knew steps A to Z...

1. Get an apartment
2. Get a lease in your name (list the family on the document)
3. Get the lease stamped and notarized by Shar Aqaree in district seven (15-25EGP)
4. If you're married (have a copy of your legal certificate of marriage or obtain one here in Egypt)
5.  Before your tourist visa expires, take your notarized contract, an apartment utility bill, passport, 2 passport photos, marriage document if applicable and a copy of all of these to your local police station or Mugaama.

**That notarized contract is the doozy I tell ya! There is an abundance of landlords trying to evade taxes and rent without providing documents of tenancy. This one document alone can be your make or break. My ardent suggestion to you is that you hold onto your money until you have a contract in hand. Don’t take any wishy-washy offers to give you a contract later... your visa is at stake here and obtaining these documents needs to be your first priority. 

     With these documents, you will need to go to the station no later than 8am if you don’t want to be there all day and there’s a big chance you will be warming the seats in the police station for hours regardless of how early you go. Expect zero organization, consistency, politeness, patience with you broken Arabic, and you’d be best to be forewarned that no of the staff is going feel it’s their responsibility to cater to your language barriers in the event that you don’t understand anything that is being said to you.

     Be sure that this process will not end today, but rather you will be told... that is; if you make it to an office before they send you home packing, and tell you to come another day.... So, in the event that you do, by the mercy of Allah get into an office, they will do nothing more than take your documents and tell you, “you are scheduled for an appointment to come back later. Chances are this date won’t be less than 4 weeks away and they will notate the date on one of your blank passport pages with a small signature. In the meantime and in between time, this is you get out of jail free card but you still cannot use it for things like opening a landline or getting a cell phone, or any formal accounts. On your return appointment, you will pay the fine, if there is a late fee for lapsing your tourist visa expiration date  (if applicable). And you will at that time also pay the ever-changing renewal visa fee amount. At this time it’s about 1700 EGP. I’ll include a current copy of the late fee fine schedule below.

      You will be given your passport with a brand new stamp for anywhere from 30 days to 6 months, in which you will need to start this process all over again. Your number of appoints at this office will be contingent on if you have all of the proper paperwork for each of your appointments and that the staff has enough hours in the day to get to you in order to process your request. Count on 3-5 visits at best.