Visa extensions at the Mugamma
Extending your visa entails visiting the Mugamma , that bureaucratic behemoth on Midan Tahrir (Mon-Wed, Sat & Sun 8am-1.30pm, Thurs 8am-12pm & 2-8pm; closed Fri; variable hours during Ramadan). Display patience and good humour when dealing with the Mugamma; only stage a tantrum or nervous breakdown as a last resort. To avoid the crush, arrive first thing in the morning or during the evening shift. Unless you're certain which numbered "window" is currently appropriate (details below may become outmoded), check with the information desk on the second floor, before going through the door on your left.

For a six-month tourist visa extension , go to desk #50 - accessed via entrance 3 or 4 on the same floor - and pick up a form. You need to provide a photocopy of the page in your passport with your photo on and also the page which carries your original visa - there are copying facilities on the ground floor. Pay the fee (£E8.20) and go to window #28 where your new visa will be issued; you have to pay another £E3.10 for the stamp. Windows #27-29 issue tourist residence visas ; re-entry visas are handled by #16 and #17. In case of lost or stolen passports, replacement entry stamps are obtainable from room #1 & #2; however, these may not pass muster with the Libyan, Syrian or Sudanese consulates.

Travel permits: The Ministry of the Interior
Other matters are dealt with by the Ministry of the Interior on Sharia Sheikh Rihan in the Abdin quarter (daily except Fri 9am-2pm; tel 355-6301 or 354-8661), whose Travel Permits Department can grant permission to travel in restricted areas (off piste in the deep desert; on minor Delta and Sinai roads; between Mersa Matrouh and Libya, or Mersa Allam and the Sudanese border). Applications require two photos and photocopies of the identifying pages of your passport and your Egyptian entry visa; plus a justification for your journey. Processing takes anywhere between four and fourteen days.

Student cards
ISIC student cards are obtainable at Egyptian Student Travel Services, 23 Sharia el-Manial (tel 531-0330), on Roda Island. You can get there by walking from El-Malek el-Suleh metro. The card costs £E18, and you'll need one passport photo as well as proof of student status - a letter or ID card from your own university is best. ISIC cards can also be obtained unofficially - at more than double the price - through some of Cairo's budget hotels. You can find out which ones by asking around, but remember there's no guarantee that you won't be sold a fake card.

Passport photos, photocopying and translations
Passport photos can be obtained from the studio in room #99 on the ground floor of the Mugamma (colour £E10, b/w £E5), or from photo booths in places like the Nile Hilton and even some metro stations. The best deal is offered by Mitry Colour, 3rd floor, 127 Sharia Ramses (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm), which charges only £E10 for a dozen photos delivered later the same day, or £E4 if you are prepared to wait until the next day to collect them. Another good deal is at the Kodak Shop, 20 Sharia Adly (>see "Film and processing"); they have a digital camera system and charge £E15 for twenty photos ready in five minutes - and you can have as many poses as you want.

Several shops along 26th July Street and Sharia Mahmoud (near the AUC Library) advertise photocopying services. For cheap translations , contact Fouad Nemab downtown (2nd floor, 37 Sharia Qasr el-Nil; Mon-Thurs & Sun, 8.30am-3pm; tel 392-2124) or in Heliopolis (14a Sharia Sherif; tel 256-7808). Hany Eskander, 11 Midan Tahrir (tel 575-7331) also does translations and has a PC and laser printer which you can make use of for specific jobs.

Embassies, foreign visas and missing passports
Cairo is a major centre for acquiring visas, and travellers embarking on trans-African or Middle Eastern journeys, or long-distance flights, would do well to sort things out here. Most embassies and consulates are in Garden City, Zamalek, Dokki or...
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