Why Lebanon  Living in Lebanon

Living in LEBANON


Visas
Time Zone
Languages
Lebanese Currency
Communications
Transport
Useful Numbers


Visas

Any person entering Lebanon, must hold a passport which is valid for a period of at least 6 months and an appropriate visa, the latter issued at the Lebanese Embassies and Consulates abroad, or by the Directorate General of Security at the Lebanese border or airport.

- The citizens of the following states are given a direct 3 month renewable multiple entry visa: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Great Britain, Switzerland, Norway, United States of America, Canada, Australia, Andorra, Japan, South Korea ,Cyprus, Malaysia, Monaco, New Zealand, Malta, Iceland, Chile, Brazil, Argentine, Venezuela, Mexico, China, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Liechtenstein.

- The citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, their families, servants and chauffeurs are given a 3 months renewable visa.

- A 6 month Renewable visa is also given to foreign and Arab children under 15 of age who are traveling with their Lebanese mother.

- A 6 month Renewable visa is also given to Arab and foreign diplomats and their servants.

- The Citizens of the following countries are given a direct passport according to department rules: Russia, Byelorussia, Estonia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Czech, Bosnia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland Hungary, Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Croatia.

Fees:
- Entry permit for a period not exceeding 48 hours: Free of charge.
- Entry permit for a period between 48 hours and 15 days: 25000 LP (Lebanese Pounds or Lebanese Lira).
- Stay irrespective of its validity period and for a single entry: 50000 LP.
- For a double entry 75000 LP.
- For a triple and above 100000 LP.
For more information, please visit General Security website.

Time Zone

GMT +2 in winter and GMT +3 in summer.
Summer time goes into effect the last Sunday of March and ends the last Sunday in  October at 12 midnight.

Languages

Most people in Lebanon speak French or English in addition to the native language, Arabic, and often other languages besides. Armenian is also spoken in Lebanon by the considerably large Armenian community.

Lebanese Currency

The monetary unit is the Lebanese Lira (LL) and currency is issued in LL1,000, LL5,000, and LL10,000, LL20,000, LL50,000 and LL100,000 notes. Coins are minted in LL 500, LL 250.
The Lebanese economy is highly dollarized and both the Lebanese pound the US dollar are widely used. Major credit cards are accepted in most hotels, shops, restaurants and retail outlets.

Communications

International calls can be made from domestic telephones via Lebanon's own earth satellite station. Private international lines and cellular phone service are widely used. Telex and FAX services are available as well.
To dial into Lebanon, the access code is 961.  The area code when dialing a mobile is 3 when dialing from outside Lebanon and 03 when dialing from within the Lebanese territory.  This rule also applies to all Lebanese regions where fixed phone codes are: Beirut (01), North (06), Jounieh and its surrounding areas including Byblos (09), South (07), Mount Lebanon (04), South Mount Lebanon (05), Bekaa (08).

Tariffs:
1. Fixed telephone:
Connection fees: LL 57,000, monthly charge: LL 12,000, and regular usage fees: LL 47/min.
For more information, please visit the OGERO website.
2. Mobile telephone fees:
Connection fees: $50, monthly charge: $15, and calls fees: $0.11/min
SMS local: $0.09/sms, SMS international: $0.18/sms, and MMS: $0.20/mms.
In addition to classic line, there are many prepared cards, its process vary from $10 to $140
For more information, please visit the Alfa website and MTC Touch website.

Postal services
LibanPost is committed to providing high quality postal services and products.
For more information, please visit the LibanPost website.

Transport

Beirut has frequent bus connections to other cities in Lebanon and major cities in Syria.

Apart from buses, the latter are served by either service or taxis. Service is a lot cheaper than taxis and recognizable by their red plate.

Travel to and from Lebanon is easy. Most international airlines operate frequent connections to Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport from Europe, Africa and the rest of the Middle East. The national carrier, the Middle East Airline, operates frequent flights – sometime daily – to all destinations in the Middle East and Europe.

Useful Numbers