Travellers report being refused entry as new approval requirements emerge without an official announcement.
At 5pm on Wednesday evening, 11 November, Syrian time, reports emerged in a WhatsApp group for foreign travellers to Syria that US citizens were facing new entry requirements. The reports came via an urgent travel update made on Syrian tour operator Syrian Guides’ website. The update reported that US citizens were now required to arrange travel to Syria via a travel agency or tour operator and receive pre-approval before arrival, whether entering by land or air.
Shortly after the link was posted, a message to the WhatsApp group reported that at least one US citizen had been turned away at Damascus Airport. At that time, no official communication or announcement by the Syrian government could be found, and the Syrian Guides update noted that "a publicly accessible circular confirming this new requirement was not available for us to link at publication." At least one US citizen who arrived in Syria at midday 11 November reported that he had heard from a local tour operator in Damascus that a new approval process was indeed in place and that the application process could take up to two weeks.
Prior approval needed
Early on the morning of Thursday 12 November, it became clear that the new entry requirements were also being applied to EU citizens, with reports that a US and French citizen who arrived at Lebanon’s Masnaa border at 3am that morning were turned away. After waiting four hours at the crossing, the travellers were told by border officials that they needed to go to the embassy in Beirut to get approval to enter Syria.
By midday on Thursday morning, Syrian Guides had updated its website with the following advice: “According to the latest immigration department information received by Syrian Guides, tourist visitors of all nationalities must arrange travel through a travel agency or tour operator and receive visa pre-approval before arrival, whether entering by air or by land.”
Further details about the new travel requirements emerged late on Thursday morning, with a message received from a local tour operator outlining the new requirements posted to the foreign traveller WhatsApp group:
The only way to obtain this clearance is exclusively by fulfilling the following conditions:
1. Prior Coordination with a Travel Agency by providing the following details:
- The exact dates of arrival and departure.
- The exact point of entry (land border or airport).
- A fully detailed travel itinerary (e.g., 2 days in Damascus, 3 days in Aleppo, visiting Palmyra, etc.).
- Pre-selected and confirmed hotels.
2. Accompanying Tour Guide Requirements:
- Your tour guide must receive you from inside the restricted area at the land border or airport, and must see you off in the exact same manner upon departure.
- This is because the tour guide is strictly required to sign an "official pledge" inside the border crossing or airport, taking direct responsibility for receiving you, accompanying you, and seeing you off.
3. Application Process and Timeline:
- As a travel agency, we submit the application on your behalf based on your provided information and itinerary.
- The processing time to issue the entry visa (security clearance) takes 3 to 4 weeks.
4. Final Step:
- Once the entry visa is issued, the travel agency will send you a copy, ensuring everything is fully prepared to officially welcome you at the border or airport.
Without an official announcement from Syrian authorities, the regulations outlined in the message above could not be independently verified.
The reason why
With no prior communication from the Syrian government, the new travel requirements will disrupt – and already have disrupted – the travel plans of many tourists intending to enter Syria in the coming days and weeks. They are also, according to same reports, leading to “chaos” at the Lebanon-Syria border, with Lebanon now advising travellers no to exit Lebanon via Syria.
As for the rationale behind the new regulations, speculation from informed sources suggested that it was the result of lobbying from Syrian travel and tour operators who were unhappy that tourists were entering the country and not using their paid services. This could not be verified at the time of writing.
Another theory was expounded by veteran Syrian journalist Ayman Abdulnour, who on his WhatsApp channel suggested that it was to do with keeping undesirable elements out:
This is the right step after the serious lack of controls that Syrians living abroad noticed during visits to Syria. Many said they encountered people who had harassed and mistreated them in Europe and America while they were demonstrating against the criminal Assad regime.
These individuals are of various nationalities: people of Lebanese origin working with Hezbollah and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party; Palestinians; Iraqis; and even some foreigners who supported the former regime, including journalists specialising in attacking the Syrian revolution. Yet here they are, roaming freely around Damascus!
Today, therefore, the Immigration and Passports Directorate issued an update requiring all non-Syrian visitors travelling for tourism, regardless of nationality, to arrange their journeys through a travel agency or tourism company and obtain advance visa approval before arriving in Syria, whether by air or land.
Whatever the reason, if these new requirements remain in place they will likely to lead to a reduction in tourism to the country (an industry it desperately needs to encourage), with intrepid tourists likely deciding it’s not worth the wait and additional costs. It is also unclear what the implications of the new regulations are for tourists currently in Syria who intend to extend their tourist visas, which is possible on a month-by-month basis up to three months from their arrival date in Syria
The apparent inability of relevant Syrian authorities to communicate the new regulations in advance and in a transparent manner, is another matter altogether. One suspects, as has happened with other announcements made by the Syrian transitional authorities, that these new regulations may soon be walked back.
