Will my phone get blocked in Egypt after 90 days of using a local SIM card?

There is a reported NTRA update: tourist phones should not be blocked if the visitor spends fewer than 120 days in Egypt in total during a year. People staying longer than 120 days may still need to pay the tax, while the method for tracking and resetting this period has not yet been clarified.

With a six-month plastic residence visa, you may be able to obtain an Egyptian eSIM; this option is not limited to Egyptian citizens.

Clarification on timing: the 90-day countdown starts from the moment the Egyptian SIM is first inserted into the phone, not from total time spent in Egypt. The law doesn't apply to tourists staying in Egypt less than 90 days total.

You can check phone registration status via the Telephony app (requires an Egyptian SIM) or ask the SIM card vendor. If the phone was already used with an Egyptian SIM before January 2025, the registration tax is 0. Otherwise, a tax of 38% of the phone's value is required to register it and lift the IMEI block after 90 days.

If your phone doesn't support eSIM, M8 roaming is a good alternative — it's a cheap roaming option specifically for Egypt and doesn't require a local phone number.

Tourist SIM cards in Egypt are valid for 30 days, matching the tourist visa duration. However, the real issue is IMEI registration: starting from January 2025, a phone used with an Egyptian SIM may be blocked in Egyptian networks after 90 days from first use.

If you plan to visit Egypt multiple times with the same phone, use an eSIM to avoid IMEI blocking. Buying a physical SIM at the airport can trigger an IMEI block after 90 days — even if you're already back home by then.