Syria Visa on Arrival 2026: Fees and the Airline Catch

Most leisure passports are being stamped on arrival in Syria in September 2026. The fee is cash. The catch is not the Syrian window — it is the airline desk, which may still want a visa number before you board.

This is the mechanics page — fees, borders, the airline catch. Which path you use (on-arrival vs mission vs pre-approval): How to get a Syria visa. Whether you should go at all: Can tourists go to Syria right now?.

Does Syria have visa on arrival?

Yes, at four points, for most passports that are not on the pre-approval list: Damascus International (DAM), Aleppo (ALP), Masnaa from Lebanon, Nassib from Jordan.

Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reset the fee policy on 6 July 2025 (Decision 128, reported by North Press). Fees are due at airports and land borders, in US dollars or an equivalent at the Central Bank rate, rounded up. Lebanon, Jordan, Malaysia, and Mauritania are fee-exempt in that decision. Serbia is visa-free. Everyone else pays by reciprocity group. The decree also prices one-month, three-month, and six-month stays, and single vs multiple entry. What the tourist window actually issues is usually a 15- or 30-day single-entry stamp. Count the ink.

There is no live official fee grid on a .gov.sy page we could open today. evisa.sy returned HTTP 500 on 17 September 2026. The UK FCDO still describes an online application of about five to seven days. The US State Department mentions an online option. Smartraveller still mentions an eVisa. Treat those lines as stale until a form actually issues.

Western governments still advise against all travel. A stamp is not cover, and it is not a recommendation.

Air vs land vs the airline (the decision)

Syrian immigration and the check-in desk are not the same system. Some pages on the open web still tell air passengers they must buy a pre-approval from a tour operator. The US State Department, same week, says US citizens may be issued a tourist visa on arrival at Damascus airport. Both cannot be "the rule." Use this:

Hours move. Check the morning you go. If you later exit into Lebanon, expect a small Lebanese stamp duty (around USD 10–12, or 1,000,000 LBP) on the Lebanese side.

Current seats into DAM and ALP: flights to Syria.

The one email to send the airline

Send this to the operating carrier, not the booking site, before you pay a fare you cannot refund:

I hold a [nationality] passport. Syrian immigration is currently issuing tourist visas on arrival at Damascus / Aleppo. Will you board me without a visa number already in the passport?

If they will not reply "yes," do not treat that ticket as a plan. Fly to Beirut or Amman and cross by land.

Travellers get through most often on Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Royal Jordanian. Certain Gulf and regional desks have refused boarding in 2026. If online check-in asks for a visa number, skip it and check in at the airport — only if the carrier has already said they accept visa-on-arrival.

How much is the Syria visa on arrival fee?

US State, for US citizens: about USD 200, about 30 days, at DAM or by land from Lebanon or Jordan.

Decision 128 prices everyone else by group. The window in September 2026 is collecting roughly these single-entry tourist amounts in cash. This is practice, not the decree's full 1/3/6-month menu. Bring extra crisp notes. Cards do not pay the stamp. Why cash still runs the week, and what the August 2026 Visa/Mastercard tests actually were: Syria currency, cash, and cards. Euros have been accepted at some windows, with change. Unlisted passports often land on USD 50.

Iran: Decision 128 quotes USD 400 for a one-month single entry. The UK FCDO says Iranian (and Israeli) citizenship is refused. Do not book on either reading. Get a Syrian mission in writing, or do not go.

Ask the Syria feed with your exact nationality if you are not in the table. A clerk can change the amount the morning you arrive.

Which countries get visa on arrival?

Usually stamped without paperwork in advance: most Western, Gulf, East Asian, and Latin American leisure passports, plus Turkey.

Fee-exempt when admitted (Decision 128): Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania; Serbia visa-free.

Treat visa-on-arrival as closed until you have written pre-approval: Afghanistan, Belarus, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Yemen, Russia, and most African passports. Lebanon appears on some restricted lists even though Decision 128 lists it as fee-exempt — if you hold that passport, get a yes in writing. Pre-approval, when it exists, has been taking on the order of three to four weeks. Some people on that list have still been stamped with no paper. Do not buy a non-refundable ticket on that hope.

Refused: Israeli citizenship (UK FCDO). Iranian citizenship: FCDO says refused; Decision 128 prices a fee. An Israel stamp, including a Sinai or Jordan crossing that shows Israel, is a common refusal on the same UK page. Replace the passport if you can.

Canada's official page still tells non-Arab nationals to get the visa at a Syrian mission before departure. Some Canadian passports have been stamped on arrival anyway. That clash is real. Do not resolve it by hoping.

At the window: what to bring and what happens

Passport validity: United Kingdom — at least three months after the day you arrive (FCDO). United States — at least six months (US State). Other passports: do not arrive on a book that expires this season.

Bring:

• The passport you will enter on (no Israel page you cannot explain).
• Cash USD in new notes, more than your row in the table.
• One spare photo. Some desks have asked; many have not.
• Proof you will leave — a ticket out of Syria, or out of Lebanon/Jordan.
• A pen. Keep the receipt with the stamp. You may need it when you exit.

Order at the airport: visa / immigration window first, cash, stamp, then bags and customs. At Masnaa and Nassib: Syrian side after the neighbouring country's exit stamp. Ask for the visa on a loose sheet if you do not want a Syria page; that request is often honoured.

Airport stamps have been 15 days even when a 30-day stay is possible. Land desks have been more willing to give 30. US State independently quotes about 30 days for US citizens. A 15-day stamp is not a 30-day stay.

A cheaper transit stamp (about half the tourist fee, often about three days) has been issued on the land crossings when you are clearly going onward to a third country. Using it to bounce back into the country you just left has produced fines and long holds. If you are touring Syria, pay for the tourist stamp.

People driving in have been paying about USD 100 extra for the vehicle at Jordanian and Lebanese crossings. Iraq and Turkey have not been reliable vehicle entries.

US State: a departure tax is due at Syrian land and sea borders, not for diplomatic passports or children under 11. Budget cash for the way out, not only the way in.

If you hold an Indian passport (visa-free / VOA / fee)

No: Syria is not visa-free for Indians. Decision 128 (6 July 2025, North Press) names the fee-exempt group as Lebanon, Jordan, Malaysia, and Mauritania, and Serbia as visa-free. India is not on that list. The live fee table on this page still puts an admitted Indian passport in the about USD 50 band. That number is a reciprocity fee, not permission to walk up.

The decree prices fees at airports and land borders. It does not print a restricted-nationality list. Desk practice in September 2026 still treats India as pre-approval first. Some Indian visa agencies still advertise that Syria does not issue tourist visas at all. Some aggregators still sell an “eVisa.” Those lines disagree with each other and with the window. Table them; do not average them.

Get written clearance from a Syrian mission, or from someone who already filed for an Indian passport this month. Then ask the airline the boarding question above. If either answer is missing, the working path is still not “buy DAM and hope.” Pre-approval, when it exists, has been taking on the order of three to four weeks.

The same pre-approval pattern applies to China, Pakistan, and most African passports. Those passports are not visa-free either.

If you hold a US, UK, or Canadian passport

• US — Level 4, do not travel (11 Dec 2025). Same page: tourist visa may be issued on arrival at DAM or by land from Lebanon/Jordan, about USD 200, about 30 days. Embassy in Damascus is suspended. Bring cash. Six months' passport validity.
• UK — You must have a visa (FCDO). The desk is often stamping British passports on arrival anyway; cash around USD 150; airport length often 15 days. Passport: three months after arrival. Israeli or Iranian citizenship, or an Israel stamp: expect refusal.
• Canada — Avoid all travel. Official line for non-Arab nationals: visa from a mission before you fly. Some Canadian passports have been stamped at the border. Get the mission or the airline in writing. Cash around USD 100 if the window stamps you.

After the stamp: registration, extension, exit

Canada's Syria page (retrieved 17 September 2026): if you stay longer than 14 days, register with the Syrian Immigration and Passports Office before day 15. The clock restarts each time you enter on a tourist visa. Some travellers need an exit permit from the General Security Department.

Extensions in 2026 have been done at the Immigration and Passport office in the al-Merjeh area of Damascus: another 15 or 30 days, often free or a few dollars, about one to two hours, go a few days before the current stamp dies. The extra days start when they process you, so do not go a week early. Other cities have forwarded requests to Damascus and taken longer. Travellers have stacked extensions toward about 90 days total; treat that as a ceiling someone was told, not a right. Overstay fines at exit have been small in some reports and a problem in others. Do not plan an overstay.

Mistakes that leave you in the terminal

• Paying for DAM on a carrier that still wants a visa number.
• Arriving with no cash, or with worn notes the clerk will not take.
• Treating a 15-day airport stamp as a month.
• Skipping pre-approval on an Indian, Chinese, Pakistani, or African passport.
• Mixing Canada's pre-visa rule with the US on-arrival note.
• Entering on a transit stamp and trying to tour.
• Staying past day 14 without registering.
• Showing an Israel stamp you cannot replace.
• Trusting evisa.sy or an "e-visa" reseller. The government form was down on 17 September 2026. Embassies are not issuing tourist visas in any useful volume; the product is the window, a mission letter, or a licensed agent's pre-approval paper.

How this page was put together

Meet Locale editorial. Official rows opened on 17 September 2026: US State, UK FCDO entry, Canada, Smartraveller, and North Press on Decision 128 (6 July 2025). evisa.sy was fetched the same day and returned HTTP 500. Cash bands, stamp length, restricted list, boarding refusals, land hours, and the Merjeh extension are counter practice from people who entered in 2026. A clerk can change any of that tomorrow.

Post who stamped you, which passport, which crossing or carrier, and how much cash, in the visas topic or the Syria feed. Meet Locale is a community for travellers and residents, not a dating app.