If you are planning to visit Sudan, you will most likely need to get a visa for Sudan beforehand.
The information in this article may help you to obtain the visa.
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There are currently 6 countries that don’t require a visa for Sudan: Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait and UAE. If you don’t hold one of these passports you will need visa for Sudan. You can get it at home. Alternatively, if you don’t have an embassy in your country of residence or you’re already travelling, we recommend applying in Cairo, Egypt.
Please note, Aswan in Egypt used to be a popular place to obtain a visa for travellers crossing overland. However, the consulate no longer issues the visa on the spot. In December 2019 it took up to 6 working days and the cost is $150.
Visa for Sudan is one of the trickier ones to get as many embassies do require a letter of invitation. This can be obtained from a tour company or a hotel in Sudan. The cost of the invite is usually $100 or $150.
The Consulate of Sudan in Cairo is located in Ad Doqi. You should arrive at around 10 am to get in line. The Immigration window (on the left) opens around 10.30 am and the guy there starts accepting applications.
Should you need any copies, there is a small shop with a printer about 20 metres away from the embassy. If you need any passport photos, there is a Fuji Photo store on the main street about 10 minute walk away.
Once your application is accepted you need to wait 20-30 minutes until your name is called. Then you can then pay the cashier. USD or EGP are accepted.
Return at 4 pm to collect your passport with your visa. The Sudan visa is a sticker and will take up a whole page.
We applied with an Australian and an EU passport in the morning and collected our visa for Sudan at 4 pm the same day.
Location: 7-11 Ahmed Al Shatouri, Ad Doqi, Dokki, Cairo
Located in Ad Doqi, the easiest way to get here is with uber or taxi. Google maps have the correct location.
You can apply for the visa from Sunday to Wednesday. They don’t accept visa on Thursday and the embassy is closed on Friday and Saturday.
You can receive Visa for Sudan on arrival as well if you are flying into Khartoum. Acropole Hotel can arrange this for you.
You will need to email them your passport copy and they will organise the authorisation.
The cost of the visa at Khartoum airport is $100 and Acropole Hotel will charge you $130 for the letter. You will also need to book at least two nights at the hotel.
Rates incl breakfast: Single rooms from $80 p/n, double/twin rooms from $100 p/n
Need some information about applying for other visas in Africa? Check out our Visa Guide.
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5 Comments. Leave new
Hi, thank you so much for all of your helpful information. We are a party of 4 from Canada planning to visit Meroe Pyramids in our Africa trip. We are finding it very difficult and costly for all the permits required for Sudan.
We called our embassy and they said we needed a sponsor and will have to pay for entry permit in addition to the visa. The entry permit is $150 EU and the Visa is $100 USD, we will also have to pay for sponsorship and they said we will have to pay exit fee to travel outside of Khartoum. Did you ladies not have to pay for entry permit and exit fee?
We are tempted to get our visas in Cairo like you, how come they do not require any sponsorship letters if you get your visa in Cairo?
Thanks,
Thi
Hello Thi. No, we did not need to pay any exit fee; all other costs are listed in our blog. We had our visas from Cairo and then had to register upon arrival – there is another blog dedicated to it on our website, but we were told this is no longer needed. If it is – look for it on our Sudan page: How to register in Sudan.
In your case, you might want to contact Acropole Hotel in Sudan and ask them if they would organise your visa on arrival and any letters/invites you might require. Acropole Hotel was always a place for many travellers to stay as they offered this service for a simple process in Sudan. Good luck and if you have any information that is relevant in 2022, let us know in these comments as it will help other travellers too. Thank you. Marty
I just did the Sudan visa in Cairo and wanted to give an update.
Documents needed
Copy of passport, copy of Egyptian visa, hotel booking, I just showed that on my phone, application but you will get that from them they did not accept the one I printed from internet so they gave me a fresh one.
Steps taken. Go inside and there are 2 sets of windows one. First ones behind cages are the pay windows. The 2nd ones are behind glass and you go to farthest one. That is the one for foreigners. They speak fairly good English there. They will take all your documents and ask you to wait. Than after 20 minutes they will will call your name and hold up your passport. Take the application and go to pay window and pay with 150 usd. The 100 bill should be new model as they rejected an older version from an American who was there. Once you pay they give you a receipt form and you go back to the far window clerk and give them passport and the receipt. They will either say come back at 3pm or tomorrow morning. I was late getting my stuff finished so didn’t reach this stage until 1pm so I got my visa back the next day at 9am. I just went in and asked them for my passport and visa and they gave it to me.
A fairly painless procedure and the staff was overworked but very helpful to me.
Thank you for the update. This is always helpful for other travellers. 🙂
Hi Huot, I did not understand, about the hotel booking,
“Documents needed”
Copy of passport, copy of Egyptian visa, hotel booking, I just showed that on my phone, application but you will get that from them they did not accept the one I printed from internet so they gave me a fresh one.”
Did they ask for a hotel booking? what do you mean by i printed from internet and they gave me a fresh one.
Thanks, i am planning soon to do the same thing