Do United Kingdom passport holders need a visa to visit SY?

UK ordinary passport holders need a visa to enter Syria. There is no visa-free or visa-waiver arrangement. A visa on arrival (30-day stay) is available to UK nationals at Damascus and Aleppo airports, paid in cash USD, but for air travel you must usually arrange prior visa approval because airlines will not board you without it. The official eVisa portal (evisa.sy) that the FCDO points to is not yet fully operational as of mid-2026. The FCDO advises against all travel to Syria. As of 31 May 2026, a British (GB) ordinary passport holder requires a visa to enter Syria for tourism; there is no visa-free channel. Following the change of government in January 2025, Syria's transitional authorities operate visa policy on a principle of reciprocity. Only nine nationalities (Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen) enter visa-free; the UK is not among them. UK nationals are eligible for a visa on arrival granting a 30-day stay at Damascus and Aleppo airports, with the fee payable in cash US dollars. However, in practice airlines will not let you board a flight to Syria without a visa approval document arranged in advance, so a prior visa/approval is effectively necessary for air arrivals. The UK FCDO directs applicants to the official portal at evisa.sy and states processing currently takes roughly 5-7 days, but the eVisa system itself displays "coming soon" and is not reliably operational, so most travellers obtain approval through a licensed Syrian travel agency or tour operator. Passport must be valid at least 3 months beyond arrival. Anyone holding Israeli or Iranian citizenship, or whose passport shows evidence of travel to Israel, will be refused entry. Critically, the FCDO advises against all travel to Syria due to the volatile security situation, and no UK consular assistance is available inside the country. Because sources conflict on whether a usable online channel exists and air carriers require advance approval, the conservative and accurate verdict is visa-required.