Syria visa on arrival

Checked 13 September 2026 against the US State Department, GOV.UK, Smartraveller, Syria’s MFA fee decision as reported on 6 July 2025 and restated in Arabic on 30 April 2026, a fetch of evisa.sy the same day, and independent 2026 traveller and operator tables. This is not a gazette. Fees and desks change. If a number below is wrong, tell us.

Can I get a visa on arrival?

For most ordinary passports, yes. You fill a short form at Masnaa–Jdeideh (Lebanon), Nassib–Jaber (Jordan), or Damascus International Airport, pay cash, and get a stamp. You do not currently collect a tourist visa from a Syrian embassy. Do not buy a “Syria visa” from a random website.

Some foreign ministries still tell you to apply at a Syrian mission before you travel. We could not confirm a working embassy tourist visa in September 2026. The stamp at the desk is what travellers use.

If you hold a US passport: the State Department still publishes two sentences that do not agree. One says Syria may issue a tourist visa on arrival at Damascus airport or by land from Lebanon or Jordan, about US$200, for 30 days. The other says you must get a visa from a Syrian mission before arrival. The embassy in Washington has been closed since 2014. The stamp is the route. Detail: Can Americans travel to Syria?.

Is the Syria eVisa working?

No. Not as a tourist form you can complete. On 13 September 2026 we opened evisa.sy. The page title is “EVisa Comming Soon”. The visible text is قريباً and Coming Soon. There is no application. A TLS check failed to verify the certificate. Do not type card details there.

Smartraveller still writes that you can apply for a Syrian eVisa online. GOV.UK still mentions an online application of about five to seven days. The State Department still lists an “online application option” next to visa on arrival. We could not confirm that portal as a working tourist form in September 2026. In Your Pocket, in summer 2026, already called evisa.sy inactive. Sites that sell a “MFA portal”, a wait of a few days, and a card payment: ignore them.

A pre-approval letter for a flagged nationality is not an eVisa. Indian passports: Can Indians travel to Syria?.

Land or air?

The Syrian stamp and the airline boarding pass are different systems. Mixing them up is how people get stuck.

• Land, for most passports: no tour, no pre-approval. Form, cash, stamp. Desk hours shift; How to get to Syria names the conflict. From Beirut: Beirut to Damascus. Turkey is not the tourist land door — Turkey to Syria by land.
• Air: Syrian immigration at DAM (and often Aleppo) can still issue a visa on arrival. Some airlines will not board you without a prior approval letter because their manuals lag. That is the usual failure, not the stamp.
• Operators who sell tours often write that air always needs pre-approval. Independent reports from 2026 also show people collecting a visa at DAM when the airline cooperated. Both can be true in the same week.
• If you cannot get the airline to confirm in writing that it will board a visa-on-arrival passenger, fly to Beirut or Amman and enter by land. Lines: Flights to Syria. Hours: How to get to Syria.

How much does it cost?

Fees have been collected at land borders and airports since 6 July 2025 (MFA Decision No. 128, as reported that day). Some 2026 guides still say land visas are free. That was the earlier rule. It is not the working rule now.

Pay in cash US dollars. Carry clean notes. Some desks also take euros; do not plan on that. Cards will not pay this fee.

These are the short-stay tourist rates travellers actually pay in 2025–2026 tables. Confirm at the desk. Longer double- and multiple-entry types exist on operator sheets; independent travellers usually get a single-entry stamp. Transit visas cost about half, land only. Reports say using a transit visa to return through the same country can mean a fine and a long wait.

Ireland and Luxembourg sit in the US$50 band in one 2026 table and with the US$75 EU band in another. Carry US$75.

How long is it valid?

You may get 15 days or 30. Check the stamp before you leave the counter. Airport arrivals more often report 15 days; land borders report 15 or 30. Do not assume 30.

To extend: Immigration and Passport Administration (Idaret al-Hijra) in al-Merjeh (Marjeh), Damascus. Independent reports in 2026: one to two hours, a few dollars, rooms to walk between for stamps. The new period starts on the day you extend, so go near expiry, not on day one. Offices in other cities may have to wait for Damascus. Steps: Syria visa extension.

We do not recommend overstaying. Some people report a small exit fine. It is still illegal.

What about my passport?

The fee is in the table. Advice from your foreign ministry is insurance and consular help, not a second stamp. Open the page that matches this passport:

• United States, about US$200: Can Americans travel to Syria?. Level 4 advice matters for Syria travel insurance, not for the desk.
• United Kingdom, about US$150: Can British citizens travel to Syria?. GOV.UK still mentions an online form we could not confirm.
• Canada, about US$100: Can Canadians travel to Syria?. travel.gc.ca still writes that a non-Arab national cannot collect at the border. That is the old sentence.
• Australia and New Zealand, about US$150: Can Australians travel to Syria?.
• Most EU passports, about US$75: Can EU citizens travel to Syria?. A Belgian independent traveller in September 2026 paid US$75, received 15 days, and extended in Damascus in about an hour.
• German, French, or Dutch passport: the same US$75. Can Germans travel to Syria? · Can French citizens travel to Syria? · Can Dutch citizens travel to Syria?.
• India, about US$50 if the desk stamps: Can Indians travel to Syria?.
• Syrian papers as well: a different desk. Dual nationality and Syria travel.

Will an Israeli stamp block a Syria visa?

Yes. Israeli citizenship is barred. A passport that shows travel to Israel is routinely refused. That includes Israeli visas and entry or exit stamps. GOV.UK: if your passport shows previous travel to Israel, you may be refused. The US State Department: Syria does not allow anyone with Israeli visas or entry and exit stamps to enter. In Your Pocket, Syrian Guides, and ShomoX Arabic in 2026 match the refusal.

Israel often issues a card instead of a passport stamp. That does not make the Syrian desk safe. Smartraveller and operator tables also treat some Egypt or Jordan stamps from offices that border Israel as evidence. One 2026 operator also flags Sharm El-Sheikh stamps. If that is in the passport you will present, you will be turned away. Do not enter Syria from Israel.

Smartraveller also lists itineraries, bag tags and SIM cards. That is one government’s extra caution, not Syrian law we can confirm. The desk reads this passport.

Restricted passports

GOV.UK says Iranian citizens cannot enter. Some fee tables still list an Iranian fee. We do not treat that as a tourist route.

Operator “restricted nationality” lists disagree with each other — India, China, Pakistan, many African passports, sometimes Lebanon, and in one list Mauritania even though Decision 128 lists Mauritania as fee-exempt. Arabic reporting in 2026 also names extra checks for some Arab passports. We will not publish one of those lists as official. If your passport is from South Asia, much of Africa, or a country that operators flag, get written approval before you buy a non-refundable ticket. Indian passports: Can Indians travel to Syria?. Lebanese travellers: Decision 128 lists Lebanon as fee-exempt; UK advice still says Lebanese citizens should check before booking.

What to bring

• Passport. Safer assumption: six months remaining (US advisory and operator tables). The UK says three. Carry six.
• One blank page.
• Cash US dollars for the fee, plus a buffer. Exact amounts help. Day-to-day cash is on Cash in Syria.
• No Israeli stamps or visas.

If this fails

• The airline refuses boarding: do not argue Timatic at the gate as if it were Syrian law. Change the plan to Beirut or Amman and the land border.
• The land desk refuses a nationality that “should” get a visa on arrival: some travellers report trying again later or the next day. That is luck, not a right. Leave slack in the itinerary.
• The stamp is shorter than you need: Syria visa extension at Marjeh before it expires.
• Operators call your passport restricted: do not fly until you have paper approval.
• A site sells you a Syria eVisa, or evisa.sy looks official: it showed Coming Soon / قريباً on 13 September 2026. Do not pay. The stamp is at the desk.
• This passport shows Israel travel: you will be turned away. That is not an argument at the desk.

What this page will not tell you

A complete official fee list for every country. In September 2026 Syria had no public page we could treat as a gazette. The table above is a snapshot from Decision 128 reporting plus 2026 operator and independent tables.

That evisa.sy will take a card payment this week. It showed Coming Soon when we opened it.

Whether your airline will board you this week. Travellers reported Turkish Airlines, AJet, Royal Jordanian, and DanAir applying visa-on-arrival rules correctly, and problems with Flydubai and Jet Airways. That is a 2026 snapshot, not a timetable. Lines: Flights to Syria.

That a tour is required. Independent travel is happening. Operators sell pre-approval because airlines and some nationalities still need it. Do I need a tour to visit Syria?.

This page is about the stamp, not the news. How the circuit feels on the ground: Is Syria safe to visit. How we check numbers: How we write.