Hi all,
As some of you might know it is still a fact that some Syrian embassies (e.g. in Germany, Poland, U.K.) mention that entry into Syria will be refused if a passport contains a stamp from Sharm El Sheikh, while other embassies do not mention this. I am travelling to Syria next week and have such stamps, originating from a two-week holiday in Sharm back in 2003 (Entry & Exit at Sharm Airport). For my upcoming trip next week however I have received syrian visa from the embassy in Switzerland without problems. But then I found that apparently any visa will be rendered invalid if such a stamp is present in a passport. Now I am reluctant to get back in touch with the Embassy to inquire about this because I fear that they just oversaw these stamps in error and might think again regarding my visa. I guess if they really have such a policy just showing up on the border and giving an innocent smile would be the better strategy than an official enquiry...
Now not to get too much worried I am trying to make sense of various conflicting reports in this issue. From what I have read on the forum, such a stamp will lead to questioning, but not refused entry. Can anyone confirm that from a recent trip to Syria?
On the other hand I fail to understand the logic behind such a policy. It is understandable that they treat stamps from land border crossings (Rafah and Taba in Egypt, Sheikh Hussein Bridge and Wadi Araba in Jordan) as clear evidence for a visit to the "occupied palestine" - but why Sharm? From what I know there is no straight connection from Sharm to Israel (not even flights) while bypassing the other border crossings. If I visited Israel from Sharm, there would be an exit stamp from Taba or Rafah. That is not a very complicated logic, so there must be another reason...?
Can someone provide me some recent experiences in this issue? Thanks!
Martin