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Layover guideCairo · CAI

Staying connected in Cairo

Roam on your own SIM and the customs question does not arise. Buy an Egyptian SIM and your handset enters a scheme with a clock on it.

Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
All of Cairo

Egypt ended its customs exemption on mobile phones carried in by passengers from 12:00 on Wednesday 21 January 2026, in a decision issued jointly by the Egyptian Customs Authority and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Egyptian Streets reports that the exemption remains in place for tourists for 90 days from when they arrive in Egypt.

Devices using a foreign SIM card on an active roaming plan remain exempt from the customs fees, per the same report. For a layover, roaming on your home SIM or eSIM is the clean option.

Egyptian Streets describes a 90-day grace period running from device activation to regularisation, and reports that authorities cautioned in April 2025 that non-compliant imported phones would face permanent network suspension. That is a problem you carry home, not one that ends at the gate.

Officials are likely to confiscate satellite phones or radio communications equipment unless you hold prior clearance from Egypt's Ministry of Telecommunications, per the UK Foreign Office. The same advice says you should declare high-value electronic devices and recording equipment when you arrive.

  1. Egyptian Streets: Egypt ends customs exemption on imported phones carried by passengers · checked 2026-09-03
  2. UK Foreign Office: Egypt travel advice, entry requirements · checked 2026-09-03

The rest of Cairo

The whole guide
Getting out of the airportThe meter is not the default in a Cairo taxi, so fix how you are paying before the doors close.Ride-hailingUber and Careem both run in Egypt, and the app price is the whole point: it is settled before you get in.Local laws that catch crew outCameras and drones are what put visitors in a police station, and your passport belongs in your pocket, not the hotel safe.WeatherSummer days sit near 35C, and June, July and August are rainless.Eating near the crew hotelsCash first, alcohol only where it is licensed, and in Ramadan the daylight hours change how everything runs.What to buyThe allowances are published and modest, and the currency limit is the one that catches people on the way out.