Egypt has launched a brand new citizenship by investment program in an attempt to bring in significant foreign investments in the country. You can get Egyptian passport in the Land of Pharaohs and Pyramids in just 3 months, after Egypt announced recent amendments to the 1975 citizenship legislation approved by parliament. The recent amendments simplified the citizenship scheme reducing the time required to get citizenship from 5 years to just 3 months. Further a donation option has been added as an investment option.
Egypt joins other countries such as Turkey, Jordan operating a citizenship for investments scheme in the MENA region. The Egyptian CBI scheme could be interesting for those who look more than just the passport, considering egyptian passport only have a limited travel freedom.
Why Egypt?
- Egypt is a $1.3 trillion economy projected for largest growth.
- Egypt connects Key global markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Americas. 8% of the world’s maritime shipping passes through the Suez Canal each year.
- Egypt is the most populated country in the Arab world with population reaching 100 million
- Egypt is visited by over 9 million tourists every year to visit Pyramids and archaeological monuments.
- Egyptian real estate market has seen robust growth with demand surpassing supply.
- Egypt has E-2 visa treaty with United States.
Citizenship by Investment Scheme
Under the new proposals, there are 4 paths to become an Egyptian national through investment scheme
- Donation: $250,000 (donation to state treasury)
- Real Estate: $500,000 (individuals or legal entities from Sep 2023)
- Bank Deposit: $500,000 (refundable after 5 years no interest)
- Business: $350,000
Investments can be made in instalments over a year. The processing time is 3 months. All investors and family members undergo background checks before being approved of citizenship. They must live for 6 months in Egypt before they file the application with the authority.
Citizenship Fee: $10,000 per application.
Family members can be included in one single application.
Special Citizenship Unit
The Government will establish a Special Citizenship by Investment Unit (SCIU) to review investor applications. The decisions will be taken within 3 months and will make recommendations to Prime Minister for conferral of citizenship to foreign investors.
Dual Citizenship
Egypt accepts dual citizens but must be notified to authorities. There is no requirement to renounce prior nationality.
E-2 Treaty
Egypt has E-2 investor treaty signed with United States June 27, 1992. This adds one major benefit for citizenship investors who come from a country where there is no e-2 treaty with US.
E-2 investor visa is a non-immigrant visa to enter United States. It is often fastest processing times, alternative to EB-5 which has years of waiting time. With the EB-5 threshold increased to $900,000, E-2 visa route is set to become more popular.
E-2 visas can be acquired by making a small investment of $100,000 or more and creating jobs in the US.
Egypt Passport
Egyptian passport with visa free to 49 countries. Some of the important countries where egyptians can travel without visas. A visa is required for egyptian nationals to visit EU schengen area, United Kingdom, Canada or United States.
| Cambodia * Hong Kong (SAR China) Indonesia Laos * Macao (SAR China) Malaysia Maldives * Nepal * Tajikistan * Zimbabwe * Cook Islands Marshall Islands * |
Micronesia Niue Palau Islands * Samoa * Tuvalu * Dominica St. Kitts and Nevis Bolivia * Ecuador Iran Jordan Lebanon * Yemen |
* VOA (visa on arrival)
Full list is available here
