Libya visas updating
 

Starting from June visas tourist requests have to be handled only by" Tripoli".This means that time for issuance will be longer , more than one month if the deliverance is requested at the border.No significative changes in the actual procedure .
Budrinna

Egyptian travel to Libya
 

Dear budrina
how are you ?
i was planning to go to Libya ,Tunisia ,then to Europe on motorbike
I'm Egyptian (Bedouin from Awlad Ali tribe )but i cant go to Libya with my own motorbike ,unless i ship it by plane or having Libyan wife traveling with me .or having a working contract in Libya ,or born in Marsa Matrouh (as your goverment thinks Awlad Ali only in Matrouh
do you have any info about that /
that what they told me in the councilate in Alexandria
sure some thing to piss off ,amgad ya 3arab amgad

@ Omar; whilst I guess that Budrinna has already answered you via PM - please allow me to express my astonishment: Egypt is a neighbuor of Libya and there are tens (if not hundrests) of thousands of Egyptians all over Libya. I cannot understand why you should have these difficulties to enter Libya? If you don't mind - please explain for my better understanding.

hi Kuno
well i don't understand it at all
so far Egyptian need no visas to enter Libya ,
but that means you must enter the country flying
well i don't understand it at all in 2006 i went to Libya driving my car and had no problems at all
so far i heard Egyptian will need visa to enter Libya from the beginning of July
i didn't got any pms from Bu Drinna
cheers
Omar

@ O. Mansour

The visa is now requested.

Budrinna

Hello Budrinna,

Could you clarify, please - will it take a month if the visa is applied for at a Libyan consulate? It certainly makes no sense to wait a month at the border. And how is the procedure going to affect travellers who arrange for their visas through a Libyan travel agency? Do they also have to wait a month?

The procedure request for issuing a visa request at least or near one month time, of course nobody will be so ..to wait such at the border, but simply will arange to be present at the border at the date and time indicated by the agency.
Same time is requested by agencies , as also recently those have to fulfill other requirements as insurance , hotels reservations and the last six months personal bank balance of each pax.

Budrinna

Dear Budrinna,

Many thanks for your reply. I would be easy to assume that once Libya has been trying to make peace with Europe, it would want to simplify the visa procedure rather than demonstrate thaty from now on it is going to be even more difficult. But I know that in politics there are various interest clashing with each other and for some people losing control over an important economic sector such as tourism, is unthinkable. It will be a long drawn process, but hopefully those who have a long term vision of the intersts of your country will prevail.

Personal bank balance of each pax? Please tell me it's a joke! No-one, even in Libya, would expect tourists arriving for a city break or a trip to the desert, to do that. In the UK, I do not even have to send my bank statements to the Tax Office when making my annual tax declaration. Why would I have to do that in Libya? And why should any one in Europe want to put up with such harassment in order to visit Libya, especially now that the travel markets are so depressed and countries are trying to woo any tourists at all?

Sorry Roman
but politics or discussing about politic is not our job and purpose , neither to discuss our local visas requirements.

Budrinna

Hello Budrinna,

That's fine by me, I wasn't expecting you (I am not sure why you use a plural form) to give us a justification for that, just facts, especially that one fact you presented sounds bizarre.

Could any one here confirm having been asked to send his bank account file to Libya in order to obtain a tourist visa recently?

Incredibly, they're not joking!
 

This is what I've just heard from a Libyan specialist I work with:

Yeah unfortunately the Libyan visa application process has just got
ridiculously complicated! - you need all of the details below

1) Valid Passport with at least 6 months Validity.
2) Completed Visa Application form.
3) 4 Passport sized photos.
4) Valid Travel Insurance.
5) Hotel Reservation.
6) Return ticket and copy of Itinerary.
7) Letter from Employer.
8) Bank Statement for Period - Current Month and the last 6 months.
9) A Invitation letter from Immigration Office in Libya
10) Arabic Translation must be stamped in Passport
11) Visa applicants are requested to attend [the embassy] in person and provide fingerprint details.
12) Visa is granted after 7 days after the applicant has submitted.

Note #11. As she adds, knowingly:
Fingers crossed it won't last...!

Chris

The list of requirements for the Libyan visa is very similar to Angola - including the bank statement. I wonder if this is a tit-for-tat thing, as European countries may now be requiring Africans to demonstrate that they have the financial means to support themselves when in Europe. Europeans going to African countries now have to do likewise.

Lybia : not reliable (again)
 

If it is true I think it's better to change for another destination less complicated to reach. But may be it is what Lybian officials want? Isn't it, Budrinna?
RR.

Hello Richard,

Could be this, could be something else. Budrinna will not help, that's for sure.

Maybe it's an attempt by a faction of the Libyan establishment to tighten the control of the emerging local tourist market - an underlying fear that more money from tourism will excessively empower some sections of the society. Maybe it's a shot across the bow to allow Libyans easier access to Europe.

Otherwise it could be like shooting oneself in the foot in a show of solidarity with the one-legged.

1) Valid Passport with at least 6 months Validity.

Chris; if I am not completely wrong, it reads that the passport has to be valid for at least 6 more months after the expiry of the visa. Means that you have to calculate 6 months from your departure date from LY. Such was (and is) the case for business visa.

---

If it is a 'This for that" is actually questionable. LY wants to boost its tourism-sector and there for has to atract tourists. So one should expect that the entry for tourists would be made easier.

And actually it would be the turn to the Europeans to issue visa only fro groups starting from 4, to oblige the group to take a mandatory guide and a tourist police...

---

The guessing that the new rules may not last for long are really not helping the LY tour operators. European tourists are nrmally spending a lot of money to come to LY and they are planning in advance into the smalles detail. If the etry to the country is not sure or if the rules are not clear --- most of them just take another destination. The last season was already not good here in LY. Stated by some tour operators I know. People have started to look for other jobs now...