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Luxor Times: The ugly destructive face of media ... An insight on the visa situation

Luxor Times

Saturday 16 July 2011

The ugly destructive face of media ... An insight on the visa situation

In the past couple of days rumours started to spread on internet sites (only 2 sites) stating that the Egyptian authority is not renewing visas to foreigners. Those sites based their reports on personal story of maximum of 4 individuals and to make it look important and big exposure that no other media source but them managed to find that fact, they used fancy expressions like “Cracking down on visas” or “simply cut [the expat community] off is kind of worrisome”. The stories created undesirable disturbance between ex-pats. Such articles as it couldn’t be called news. News means something happened but when it is a case of few individuals and the editors didn’t even try to get to the source or the responsible official to check if that information is true or not. In one of the articles they ask someone in ministry of tourism who said all those irresponsible statements and it is even has nothing to do with ministry of tourism when it comes to issuing visas to foreigners.
Such articles only aim at increasing hits on web sites and not considering what mess and damages it could create. Freedom of press comes with responsibility and requires maintaining a high level of integrity otherwise the media will lose its creditability.

To clarify the confusion about the tourist visa situation which was created out of nowhere, here you are the EXACT situation at the moment and if it will be changed at anytime so there will be an official announcement.
1- The tourist visa is valid between 15 days up to 12 months.
2- Each visa application case is handled individually.
3- Not breaking the laws of the Arab Republic of Egypt is your best way to stay on the safe side. This including: Not working without a work permit or trading without a license.
4- You could pay a visit to the nearest Passport Office to check if the information is correct or just rumors. (The place you go to apply for visa or renewal, not anywhere else even if it was still a government office like Ministry of tourism or so)
Hope this will put an end to all the rumors and if anyone is still not sure what’s going on or if Luxor Times information is not correct so please pay a visit to the Passport Office and get back to us.

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posted by Luxor Times at 20:04

3 Comments:

  • thanks for that Mena.......as the daily news egypt (13th July) quoted their source as the dept of immigration....and stated that
    "the immigration department has rejected all recent requests to renew tourist visas" is there any chance you can ask them to correct this.....in print......many thanks

    By Blogger jo, At 16 July 2011 at 22:02  

  • First of all, as in standard journalism etiquette, a story needs a minimum of two sources. While you debate that these stories only include four personal accounts, this would suffice journalism policy. Then you say, “…editors didn’t even try to get to the source or the responsible official to check the information…” however, you failed to cite any source yourself. Therefore, how can you say this is untrue?

    Furthermore, Bikya Masr did cite one official at the Ministry of Tourism, Amr Abdelmaged, said: “All we’re doing is enforcing the rules of law that most tourists in other countries abide by so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to the foreigners who are not getting extensions.”

    To begin to pass along news, make sure that the Luxor Times Magazine also includes its own sources or makes sure that readers know this is an op-ed piece.

    By Anonymous LeAnne, At 19 July 2011 at 16:10  

  • thats a relief. anyone got visa extensions based on$US 50K in an egyptian bank for 1 year in egyptian currency transfered from outside of the country? also are they still giving visa extension/resident whatever its called based on property ownership..any detail on these two rumers/talk points are greatly appreciated. Thanks

    By Blogger Jay733, At 20 July 2011 at 00:45  

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