Business Travel to Egypt: Do You Need a Work Authorization?

A powerful force in North Africa and in the Middle East, Egypt boasts one of the largest economies in the region, with a population of more than 100 million. The country offers immense potential for foreign companies to expand and invest in an emerging market.

Additionally, following Egypt’s successful hosting of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, it has firmly positioned itself on the map as a leader in both regional and international relations alike.

The country was able to attract more foreign investments by signing several agreements in the fields of solar energy, wind energy and green hydrogen, which will help further revolutionize the Egyptian economy into a green economy. The Egyptian Government has also provided incentives to encourage investment in the country, such as the introduction of the new Investment Law No.72/2017, which focuses on equal investment opportunities for local and foreign investors, and the recent launch of “Golden Licence,” also known as the “single approval license,” that allows for new investments to operate under a single approval and cuts down on red tape.

According to Egypt Today, on 1 June 2023, the Egyptian Government is ambitiously working at raising the percentage of investments directed to the green economy from its current level—from 30% to about 40% of the total public investment in 2023/2024 and up to 50% by 2024/2025.

With the seamless business continuity in the region, there has been an increase in the number of foreign companies investing in Egypt and, indubitably, the demand for foreign workers has also increased.

Companies’ project leads, global mobility teams and HR professionals now collectively work to understand “the most compliant, fastest way” to get their workforce mobilised for short-term durations to Egypt to meet their urgent business needs.

With strategic and thoughtful immigration advice, business trips to Egypt may now be converted into short-term work assignments.

Can a foreign worker compliantly conduct hands-on work on an entry (Business) visa?

Companies mobilising resources to Egypt on short-term assignments are usually faced with the challenge to understand what type of visa or work authorization should be arranged for their short-term travellers.

We often see companies sending their employees to Egypt on entry (Business) visas for urgent meetings with customers, deploying technical teams for restoring outages, visiting sites and conducting technical activities such as installation, maintenance and machinery repair.

From an immigration perspective, employers considering these practices as seemingly insignificant or low-risk could unknowingly set their employees (and the sponsoring company) up for a labour violation.

No, it is not “low risk,” and yes, it may be a labour violation!

In Egypt, an expatriate cannot perform hands-on work or technical work without work authorization. Some companies may have their internal policies or internal business visa assessment tools, which direct their employees to conduct short-term activities on an entry/visit visa, however, this policy is not strictly compliant with Egyptian law and should not at all be considered a low-risk option.

The authorities are now increasingly conducting labour inspections on short intervals at sites, fields and workplaces. Penalties for non-compliance could apply on a labour inspection.

As immigration practitioners, we recommend that the relevant work authorization is secured before the foreign national can conduct any hands-on work or conduct field visits.

Short-term work authorization in Egypt

There is not a formally established, short-term work permit for less than a year or authorization process managed or regulated by law in Egypt. Further, foreign nationals cannot perform any technical work, regardless of its nature, in Egypt without holding a work permit.

However, since the process to obtain a work permit is lengthy and document intensive, it is a challenge for businesses to understand what type of authorization their short-term travellers can avail to remain compliant with the regulations. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in Egypt, however, provides a special concession, the Short-Term Work Authorization, under which a foreign national may perform some hands-on activities for periods of less than 90 days upon authorization of MOM which will exercise its discretion to approve such activities for a given duration on a case-by-case basis.

Some of the key considerations are:

• • The Short-Term Work Assignment (STWA) path is not a formal option supported by a MOM by legal statute, but a ''concession” granted to support businesses.
  • The MOM will deliver a formal document to authorize “hands-on” work as a visitor for business, for the specified duration.
  • STWA requests can be submitted for a period of one day up to 90 days, with a start date and end date, which can be further extended to another up to 90 days at the discretion of the authorities.
  • However, STWAs above 30 days may initiate a residence permit process to meet immigration requirements and are subject to quota requirements with the ratios of 10 locals for one foreign national.
  • It is best practice for the foreign national to acquire the STWA Approval prior to entering the country with an Entry Visa or even if they have passports that support Visa-on-Arrival.

Need to know more?

For further information on short-term work authorization requirements in Egypt, please contact Assistant Manager Maliha Jafri at [email protected].

This blog was published on 31 July 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.