Living and Working in Egypt

Egypt sets its own entry policy, and it runs in nationality bands. The Ministry of Interior's e-visa portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg, is the official channel, and the Egyptian embassy in Washington describes it as the only official link affiliated with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The portal states that a foreign national wishing to enter Egypt generally must first obtain an e-visa, and it publishes the list of nationalities that may apply online: they include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, and, in Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Ukraine among others. A single-entry tourist e-visa costs 30 US dollars and a multiple-entry one 65 US dollars, the passport must be valid for at least six months from the arrival date, and the application is to be created at least seven days before departure. A separate band must obtain a visa before travelling: the Egyptian embassy in Washington names nationals of Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Mali, Niger, Palestine, Sudan and Syria, and holders of travel documents, and states separately that Bangladeshi nationals require a visa before entry. For applicants outside that band, the same embassy advises obtaining the visa in advance from the Egyptian consulate that serves their state of residency.

Several of the e-visa nationalities can instead buy a visa at the airport, although Egypt's own consular pages head that section Visa On Arrival (Emergency Visas) and advise obtaining the visa in advance. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, on a page it opens by stating that the information is for people travelling on a full British citizen passport, states that approved airports have kiosks before the immigration counters selling a physical visa for 30 US dollars in cash, valid for up to 30 days, that tourist e-visas are valid for up to 3 months, and that from 1 August 2026 Cairo International Airport also sells a digital visa on arrival by card for 36 US dollars including a 6 US dollar service fee. Global Affairs Canada states the same 30-day visa on arrival for Canadian passport holders, paid in cash in US dollars. The airport route is not open to every nationality: the Egyptian embassy in Washington states that passport holders on the pre-approval list cannot acquire a visa upon arrival, and Indian ordinary passport holders qualify only if they hold a valid United States, Schengen, United Kingdom or GCC visa and have travelled on it at least once, which is why the e-visa is the ordinary route for them. South Sinai has an entry-permission arrangement of its own, reported by the FCDO on that same British passport page: arriving by air at Sharm el-Sheikh and staying less than 15 days at resorts in Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba or Taba draws a free entry permission stamp instead of a visa, while travelling outside the resorts or staying longer requires a visa. Since that account is written for one passport, and since Egypt's own consular authority excludes the pre-approval band from visa on arrival, the arrangement is not stated here as a rule of general application. Arriving overland at Taba is a different matter and is not free: the FCDO states a border tax of 20 US dollars for a stay in Taba itself and 120 US dollars to travel further within the Sinai Peninsula, each giving an entry permission stamp for a stay of up to 15 days, and notes that these charges have been subject to increases at short notice since early March 2026. On extensions, the FCDO states that a visa extension is applied for at the Egyptian Passport and Immigration Offices, and that leaving Egypt on a visa which has expired by more than 14 days can attract a fine. None of these entry visas is a residence permit or a work authorisation.

Entry and residence are administered separately, and merging them is a common mistake. On the Egyptian side residence for foreign nationals is handled by the Ministry of Interior's General Administration for Passports, Immigration and Nationality, which states that it serves both citizens and foreign nationals, and a permit is issued against the purpose of the stay. UK government guidance for British nationals in Egypt sets out the shape of it plainly: a multiple-entry business visa is valid for six months from the date of issue and allows a maximum stay of 90 days, while a tourist visa allows a 30-day stay; after arrival a person expecting to stay applies for a temporary residence permit, a work permit or a study permit; none of those three can be applied for until the applicant is in Egypt; the application process is likely to take many weeks; there is no permanent residency for foreigners in Egypt; and long-term residency exists only for those who meet one of several sets of qualifying criteria.

Work authorisation is a third file, and the Egyptian Ministry of Labour publishes its conditions. Its General Administration for Work Permits for Foreigners lists the licensing and renewal of foreign work permits among its services to business owners, which is to say the employer opens the file, not the employee: the application goes to the head of the Central Administration for Employment and Labour Market Information at the ministry's general office. The number of foreign workers in an establishment, across all its branches, must not exceed 10% of total headcount, subject to the special cases established by an explicit law or by a decision of the exception committee. The file must include a letter naming two Egyptian assistants employed by the company whose qualifications match those of the foreign technician and whom the foreign worker undertakes to train. Where the worker is recruited from abroad, the Passports and Immigration Authority is consulted and the foreign national does not enter the country until security approval has issued; within sixty days of entry the establishment's representative must present the passport to the work permits administration, failing which the recruitment request is treated as never made. Where the foreign national is already in the country, exemption from recruitment costs EGP 15,000 on top of the year's fee. Fees are set by Decision no. 146 of 2019 on two scales, one inside the 10% ratio and one outside it, EGP 5,200 against EGP 8,200 in the first year and rising each year thereafter. Renewal for the second and third years is handled by the directorate and from the fourth year by the ministry's general office. UK government guidance adds that a work permit requires security clearance, proof of a clean bill of health including an HIV test, and proof of academic qualifications where relevant.

Egypt operates a route to citizenship in exchange for investment. The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, GAFI, describes a dedicated unit affiliated with the Prime Minister's Office and three routes: establishing an investment project, purchasing real estate, or depositing an amount in foreign currency directly into the state treasury or as a deposit in a special account at the central bank. Citizenship is granted by decision of the Prime Minister, the investor transfers 10,000 US dollars from abroad to the Central Bank of Egypt as administrative fees, and GAFI states that an application is processed within three to six months.

GAFI publishes no monetary threshold for any of the three routes, and figures circulating elsewhere contradict one another, so this guide quotes none. On how the route relates to residence, GAFI states that Egypt sets no requirement of a specific prior residency period, unlike some other schemes, and that on approval from the relevant security authorities the investor is granted temporary residence for six months in order to execute the chosen investment programme, after which citizenship is granted to the investor and their minor children up to the age of 21 by decision of the Prime Minister.

Egyptian income tax on individuals is progressive, and the rate that applies to each slice depends on the taxpayer's total annual net income. Article 8 of Income Tax Law no. 91 of 2005, as replaced by Law no. 7 of 2024 (Official Gazette no. 7 bis (a) of 21 February 2024, published by the Egyptian Tax Authority and in force for salary tax from the first day of the following month), sets out a matrix of six income tiers rather than a single ladder. Where total annual net income does not exceed EGP 600,000, the first EGP 40,000 is taxed at 0% and the rate then rises through 10%, 15%, 20% and 22.5% to 25% on the part above EGP 400,000. Above the tier floors of EGP 600,000, EGP 700,000, EGP 800,000 and EGP 900,000 the lower bands are withdrawn in turn, so that a taxpayer over EGP 600,000 loses the 0% band, one over EGP 700,000 also loses the 10% band, and so on. Where total annual net income exceeds EGP 1,200,000, the whole of the first EGP 1,200,000 is taxed at 25% and the excess at 27.5%. The same law replaced article 13(1) to set a personal exemption of EGP 20,000 a year for the taxpayer. Article 2 of Law no. 91 of 2005, which neither Law no. 7 of 2024 nor the later amendments replaced, makes an individual an Egyptian tax resident in any of three cases: a permanent home in Egypt; residence in Egypt for a period exceeding 183 days, continuous or intermittent, within twelve months; or being an Egyptian who performs the duties of a post abroad and receives their income from an Egyptian treasury.

Cross-border taxation runs on Egypt's own treaty network rather than on any single bilateral relationship. The Egyptian Tax Authority publishes the list of double taxation agreements, and it covers more than sixty jurisdictions: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and France are all on it. Australia and New Zealand are not. Which instrument applies, and what it changes, turns on the reader's own residence position rather than on any default counterparty.

Local prices and internationally priced goods and services can diverge in Egypt, and any figure quoted in a foreign currency dates fast. The Egyptian pound went through a change of exchange-rate regime: completing the first and second reviews of Egypt's Extended Fund Facility arrangement in March 2024, the IMF described a stabilisation plan centred on a liberalised foreign exchange system in the context of a flexible exchange rate regime, with unification of the exchange rate and clearance of the foreign currency demand backlog among the steps taken. For that reason this guide quotes no exchange rate and no pound-denominated budget. Housing to international standards, largely in the Cairo districts where internationally recruited staff cluster, is the largest single line for most arrivals, followed by international-school fees where they apply. The calculator gives an estimate against your own income.