Visa for attending conference in Cairo?
 

I did a search on the relevant embassy websites but I couldn't find the information. Basically, as a UK citizen I need either a tourist visa (which I can get on arrival) or a business visa but I am not sure which one to get in my case.

I am a self funded student attending and presenting a research poster at a conference in Cairo. Does this mean I need to get the business visa which is quite expensive compared to the tourist one? I will only be in the city for 3 days and of course I will also be doing tourism. Does anyone know?

Get the visa on arrival. It's a simple purchase at one of the foreign exchange desks: stick the stamp in your passport and present it to the immigration officer. Nobody will ask you why you are visiting Cairo - if they do, cite tourism. And have a good time!

Thanks - the only problem if I say tourism is that I'll have one of those poster carrier tubes with me so they might think it's suspicious.

Not a problem.

Tell them it's a toothbrush :D

Seriously, you'll have no problem at all.

I completed a few international trips as a student - trips where we attended a conference, worked with a business in the country, did actual research, etc. Everybody I ever spoke with said that the tourist visa is actually the correct visa for this - you only ask for a student visa if you're enrolling in a local school and earning degree credit there.

I have no idea how universal that is or if there is some country out there that has a different view, but it always worked for me.

When we went to Cairo, we just bought visas from one of the bank booths near baggage claim and the immigration officer affixed them to our passports without saying much of anything to us.

I agree you should just get the tourist visa on arrival. I have been to Cairo around ten times the last couple of years for business, I always took the tourist visa (easier to obtain) and was never questioned about it.