Regulating the Residence of the Foreign Investors and Hiring Foreign Workers
Subject to the provisions of the laws governing residence in the Arab Republic of Egypt, to grant non-Egyptian investors residency is subject to the following conditions:
- The investor should be a founder, shareholder or partner in a company or an establishment owner. - The period of residency may not be less than year and not longer than the period of project. The Authority's Board of Directors may add other conditions, subject to the consent of the Ministry of Interior.
The residence shall be cancelled when the investor exits (dissociates) from the company; or the company's registration is written off based on the company's liquidation or writing off the establishment's registration from the Commercial Register.
The application for residency shall be submitted on the form prepared by the Authority for this purpose. The residency shall be granted in accordance with the rules and controls that will be issued by the Board of Directors of the Authority after the approval of the Ministry of Interior in light of the categories and relative weights of the purpose of the company, the capital, and number of workers and the location of practicing the activity. The period of residence shall be one year at the beginning of incorporation, and shall be renewed for another period in case there is seriousness in starting the execution of the project. Then, it shall be renewed for periods of five years each and in all case the residence may not be longer than the period of the project. Hiring Foreign Workers
An investment project shall have the right to recruit foreign workers within the limits of 10% of the total number of workers in the Project. This rate may be increased to 20% maximum of the total number of workers in the Projects, in the event it is not possible to hire national manpower that enjoys the required qualifications.
A committee shall be formed under a decision issued by the Authority's Chief Executive Officer, comprised of technical and legal members and representatives of the competent authorities. The Committee shall settle the requests for increasing the rate stated for hiring the foreign workers, and its decisions shall be approved by the Authority's Chief Executive Officer. The Committee shall observe the following rules when researching the submitted requests:
1) Study the scientific qualifications and experiences of the foreign worker, and whether they are in line with licensed professions.
2) Seek the opinion of the competent authority supervising the economic activity practiced by the company or establishment, as well as the opinion of the competent security authority as required for national security. 3) Observe the principle of reciprocity in the State of the foreign workers, if any. 4) The economic need and interest for the foreign experience. 5) The company or establishment needs of the specialists or consultants and the work circumstances therein, and the effect of approval or rejection to the production or investment. 6) The extent of providing employment opportunities to the Egyptian workers by the company or establishment. 7) The extent of the company or establishment seriousness to fulfill its previous undertakings and the extent of its observance of the provisions of law. 8) In case there are more than one foreign worker in the same specialty, the preference shall be given to the foreigner born and permanently resided in Egypt. 9) The obligation by the company or establishment permitted to use the foreign experts or technicians with assigning the Egyptian workers whose qualifications are in line with the qualifications of the foreign experts and technicians to work as assistants, provided that the foreigner shall be obligated to train them and prepare annual reports concerning their performance. The foreign workers in the Investment Project shall have the right to remit their financial dues, in whole or in part, abroad in accordance with the rules as applicable with the Central Bank of Egypt.
