Middle East travel on Egypt Air and avoiding Israeli passport stamp

The only way to guarantee that you don't get an Israeli stamp in your passport is not to go to Israel. You can request that the immigration official stamps a separate piece of paper, but if he feels like stamping your passport there's nothing you can do about it.

Also note that if you cross into/out of Israel from Egypt and/or Jordan by land, you will get an Egyptian/Jordanian stamp at the border crossing - with the name of the crossing - which is clear evidence of a trip to Israel.

Whether it's worth avoiding the Israeli stamp is something only you can answer, depending on your future plans.

Thanks for the reply but I thought there was no exit stamp out of/into Jordan at the Allenby Bridge crossing? And that the Jordanian visa is still valid after exit/reentering Jordan at this border.

I thought that was the standard way to avoid the passport stamp. Is this no longer true? I understand it's at the discretion of the border agent but I was hoping to use the flight through Bahrain as a reason to not stamp the passport.

Jon

I think you're correct about the Jordanian stamp part. It's a standard way to TRY and avoid an Israeli passport stamp; most of the time it works, but not always, even with a "reason not to stamp".

The bigger issue is your general question as to whether or not all those logistical hurdles are worth not getting the stamp. That's a personal decision, but in my opinion, no.

You are correct, attitudes and politics change, but not only as that relates to Israel. Countries change policies all the time and for many reasons. As a traveler I've found all I can plan for is what the reality is today. It doesn't sound as though you'll be going to a country that excludes entry due to an Israeli stamp so I'd not worry about it. You'll have enough other legitimate issues to worry about.

Good luck.

You're probably right not to worry about possible future issues. I just wish it were easier to book frequent flier tickets closer to the actual date of departure. That would solve some of the logistical issues.

Anyway, I've been leaning towards making things easier and just getting the stamp and was curious what others thought.

Jon

Unless you have immediate plans to travel to a country which forbids it, what's the big deal? Nowhere in Southeast Asia has ever been an issue in this regard, nor are Bahrain, Qatar, Oman or the UAE. If it does become a problem for you in the future, you can just renew your passport, which you'll have to do eventually anyway and which will definitely be cheaper and easier than booking multiple flights to avoid a stamp on this trip.

I think it's well worth it to avoid the stamp. My boyfriend and I are living in Egypt and had plans to visit Lebanon later this week. Unfortunately, he was stamped on his trip to Israel 6 years ago, but thought it was in his old passport. It wasn't and now we are looking at canceling all of our plans and losing quite a bit of money. I would not bother with the stamp if you can avoid it. You never know where you would like to go in the future and it is nice to have all options on the table. I went to Israel 3 years ago and was successful in asking (er, demanding) that the Egyptian border agents not stamp my passport. I had no problems with the Israeli border agents attempting to stamp my passport, thought some others I traveled with were not so fortunate.

I know you mentioned not being too interested in visiting Jordan. Petra and Jerash are worth it.

Thanks for the replies. That's been my thinking - better safe now than sorry later even though there currently isn't any place on the itinerary to cause a problem. But it's definitely easier to just go straight to Israel from Egypt.

While that border (Taba, I assume) would work to avoid the Israeli stamp, unless you're living in Egypt it could cause a problem. As a tourist, I'd have an entry stamp into Egypt then some sort of gap after leaving Israel (even without Egyptian exit and Israeli entry/exit stamps) which some enthusiastic and suspicious immigration official could probably piece together.

I've already been to Jordan but what about landing at AMM and getting to Jerusalem a few hours later by a combination of buses and share taxis? Possible?

Jon

You realize you could always get a new passport from your embassy, right? While countries like Syria may scrutinize a passport issued in Amman or Cairo, most countries aren't going to. And they probably wouldn't question a passport issued in Thailand or somewhere else out of the region.

If you have no immediate plans to travel to Syria, Iran, etc... and if avoiding the Israeli stamp is going to cost you more than the price of your country issuing a new passport, why bother?

Anyway, there are only 2 ways to avoid the stamp:

1.) Fly in to and out of Israel, and hope that they don't stamp your passport either way.

2.) Enter Israel from Jordan at the crossing nearest Jericho (King Hussein Bridge, I believe? It's been awhile). And then return to Jordan through the same crossing before your original Jordanian visa has expired (recommend extending your Jordanian visa before you leave). You'll have to request the Jordanians and Israelis both not to stamp your passport. A Jordanian (or Egyptian) stamp gives you away just as much as an Israeli one. You need to avoid those stamps, too. Syrians do look for these Egyptian and Jordan stamps.

There are buses from Amman to Jerusalem that use this crossing.

... and if I remember correctly, the buses from Amman to Jerusalem only leave very early in the morning from Amman. The border crossing tends to take a few hours.