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@MiddleEuroAsia
I lived in Egypt for many years during the Mubarak era. Liked it very much. I‌ am eyeing a return to Egypt and am evaluating my options.

It is still possible‍ to live in Egypt on an extended tourism visa (visa run). However, that is sub-par⁠ and definitely not my style which let me look into a "residence-by-investment" program. Like most⁤ things in Egypt you do need to dig deep... .
There are two "competing" laws:⁣ Law 190 of 14-MAR-2020 (citizenship by investment) and law 173 of 2018 (residency-by-investment with the⁢ option of naturalization after 5 years).
I am interested in law 173. It opens the︀ possibility to deposit EGP 7'000'000 with either Banque Misr or National Bank of Egypt for︁ 5 years in return for a 5-year residence permit. After these 5 years the amount︂ can either be withdrawn by foregoing the naturalization process or it will be transferred to︃ state coffers in order to get naturalized. The latter is pretty uninteresting. However, the former︄ option of just depositing this money for 5 years gives a "free" and non-binding residence︅ permit. The money can be placed in interest-bearing TD or CD which is why I︆ used the term "free".
Further details see here -> Egypt: President Ratifies Law Amending Residency︇ and Citizenship Laws : Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative and here -> Egypt’s citizenship for︈ sale to foreigners at $400,000 : Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative

Consider this thread Question - Egypt - taxation of foreign sourced income in connection with the above-mentioned residence permit︉ and you have a value destination which is on nobodies radar.
There are still conflicting︊ interpretations of "commercial, industrial and professional activity". However, the vast majority of lawyers︋ I contacted seem to agree with this definition -> Taxation In Egypt - Tax -︌ Egypt which in turn would mean that for a certain group of people certain foreign︍ passive and foreign semi-passive income is not covered by personal income tax law.

Do you︎ have any current practical experience with Egyptian tax authorities?
Feedback is highly appreciated.
 
Yep, as I said before, Mubarak times were the best for us, minimal‍ questions, territorial tax system plus a lot of other things that made Egypt the perfect⁠ heaven in africa.

nowadays, it's still great, but you need to know the ins and⁤ outs of what you're getting into, otherwise don't blame anyone but yourself.
Yeah, I see where are you coming from, but FYI, extending tourists visas and visa︍ runs are the norm for a lot of expats in a lot of areas in︎ Egypt like sharm elsheikh for example, the authorities knows, the land lords knows, the local️ bank knows, but they don't bother these "expats", there is some kind of unspoken rule/mutual‌ understanding, that as long as you keep it to yourself and don't cause too much‍ trouble, then you will pretty much be left alone.

regarding the residency investment route, unfortunately,⁠ your numbers are not accurate, that was the proposal, but the end result is different,⁤ you need to deposit 750k (around 11 million EGP) into an Egyptian bank for five⁣ years in local currency and with no interests. so that option is less attractive,⁢ when you know that you can just incorporate an LLC with no capital and get︀ yourself a residence permit all in just 1 week.
the Centre of commercial or industrial activities is just a fancy word for "effective place of︆ management" and where your vital interests are located, however the enforcement of this law is︇ pretty lax, nominee directors for your foreign companies solve this issue, again, this not the︈ EU, and they won't run after your companies trying to count every employee that you︉ hire in your foreign companies to see whether your company have substance abroad or not,︊ they simply don't give a s**t lol. but yeah, having a nominee director is usually︋ more than enough
Yeah, but not directly, all the tax related stuff are run through my︌ accountants.
why? do you have any other questions in mind? if so, I'm happy to︍ answer them 🙂

Cheers!
 
Thanks for this. Well, I was attracted by the idea⁤ of leaving it in the bank and cashing in on the relatively high interest rates.⁣ Without the latter this residence permit is not for me.
The LLC is a better⁢ option but it is somehow counterproductive to the idea of being a simple retiree 🙄 .
Interesting, nobody told me about this interpretation.
How do you see "commercial, industrial and professional activity" under the condition of being a retired private individual (no︂ business activity) who keeps his money/bonds/equities in a foreign bank account while being a tax-resident︃ of Egypt?
 
Yeah, I believe that Egypt real interest rate is the highest in the world. So,⁣ it's a shame that they changed their original proposal that much.

Anyway, You can go⁢ with the property route, and that will require no less than 200k, and it will︀ give you three years multi entry renewable visa, or you invest 400k into properties and︁ you will get 5 years multi entry renewable visa.
on paper: if Egypt is the Centre of commercial industrial︄ or professional activity of you, then this should be subject to your personal income tax︅ brackets, but because you don't have "commercial industrial or professional activity" in Egypt, then your︆ taxes should be 0%.

on practice: 0%. and you can remit some of this money︇ into an Egyptian bank account if you wanted to, and nobody will bother you.

on a side note: If you don't like the idea of properties, you can forget the︈ property route and instead opt for having a holding company in Egypt but you will︉ need a local accountant that will help you with that
 
Thank you. That was very helpful.
I will fly to Egypt⁤ in about two weeks time. Aside from wanting to make sure that I still like⁣ my target region I do have an appointment with a local accountant/lawyer. After that I⁢ will make my decision.
 
I don't understand why anybody with money or a Western nationality would ever want to‌ live in Egypt, even if they can save on taxes a bit... It's absolutely filthy‍ and everybody is trying to scam you at every possible opportunity

Plus there are no⁠ solid property rights, govt seizes properties for whatever purpose regularly without compensation.
 
Why would anybody want to live in Rome? Everybody is trying to scam you⁤ at every possible opportunity
Why would anybody want to live in Paris? Everybody is trying⁣ to scam you at every possible opportunity
Why would anybody want to live in NYC?⁢ Everybody is trying to scam you at every possible opportunity
Why would anybody want to︀ live in London? Everybody is trying to scam you at every possible opportunity
Why would︁ anybody want to live in Prague? Everybody is trying to scam you at every possible︂ opportunity
Why would anybody want to live in Thailand? Everybody is trying to scam you︃ at every possible opportunity

the answer is simple: Every place has it's good and bad,︄ and it doesn't mean that it's all s**t. What are you describing mainly exists in︅ tourist areas, and I don't know if you have been living under a rock or︆ something, but that happens in every big city around the world.

Also, I'm not sure︇ why some people have a hard time wrapping their head around this sentence "Everyone has︈ a different risk appetite" so what might suit you, might not suit me and vice︉ versa, and if Egypt is not your thing, that's ok, that doesn't necessarily mean that︊ it's not my thing too, it very well could be, and that's why I'm here,︋ I find good opportunities, I make good use of them. Simple as that.
I call BS. Sorry, I've been in this market for a long time,︍ and I can't find a new or old news about foreigners getting their properties seized,︎ maybe in 1974? yeah, if you talk about that one, that was deemed illegal by️ a Cairo court.

However, I found news about Spain seizing properties, so maybe‌ you confused the two? ca#"!

Anyway, go to maadi or Zamalek island and you will find‍ that most of embassies and expats living there and no body is bothering them, and⁠ that happens all over Egypt, so, I don't know where are you getting this "info"⁤ from.
 
@MiddleEuroAsia
I have been to Egypt, checked everything and‍ compared it to my early days. Well a lot has changed! Some to the better,⁠ some to the worse - but in any case it has become more complicated than⁤ it was 15 years ago.

First of all: All these residence programs are better to⁣ forget about. With whomever I spoke, they all advised against it. In fact, law 173⁢ of 2018 (residency-by-investment with the option of naturalization after 5 years) is something which only︀ exists on paper and will not be processed.
Only law 190 of 14-MAR-2020 (citizenship by︁ investment) is applicable. It targets Syrian businessmen and other rich refugees - well, there will︂ hardly be any Westerner who wants to acquire an Egyptian passport 🙄 .
The property route︃ is still a possibility. It works exactly as you explained here:
Since I︇ do not want to invest in property (has nothing to do with Egypt; I simply︈ do not like to have a concrete block tied to my legs) this is no︉ option for me.
However, there are other options that are way cheaper and do not︊ tie up anything. A renewable 1-year-residence permit with multiple entry option is still available if︋ one knows his way. Minimum conditions: notarized rental contract, age >50 years, from a "Western︌ Block" conf/(%country.

The tax situation is quite simple. This
is 100% accurate and has been confirmed⁠ by 2 tax advisors and one lawyer. The same is valid for interest paid from⁤ foreign bank accounts which is treated like interest payments from local banks and therefore tax-free.⁣
Crypto has to be kept outside the country and such proceeds should never be transferred⁢ to Egypt due to Law 194
of 2020 (Art. 206/CBE). As long as it is︀ kept abroad and proceeds are not transferred to Egypt everything is fine. The logical consequence︁ of the aforementioned law is that gains (capital gains, interest ....) from cryptocurrencies are tax-free.︂
The tax code of 2005 has been amended in some parts but has never been︃ completely reworked. As long as a tax resident of Egypt does not engage in any︄ "commercial, industrial or professional activity" and he is merely holding his wealth abroad, sort of︅ a territorial tax system is still in place. All this considering that such a tax︆ resident does not act like a day trader.
Tax residency is still automatic: You have︇ to be in Egypt for at least 183 days within 12 months.
Tax ID is︈ a bit of a challenge .... I am working on a solution.

Most disappointing: The︉ internet. About a decade ago mobile internet was on par with the UAE, specifically when︊ using Etisalat-Egypt. Today it lags far behind, the signal very often being weak. Fixed-line home︋ internet is more stable but it is quite a challenge to get it installed due︌ to connections per building being limited in certain areas of the country. The monopolistic structure︍ of the fixed-line telecom sector (i.e. Telecom Egypt) doesn't exactly help.

Bottom line: A reliable︎ and trustworthy advisor with many years of experience is key. Unfortunately, such a person is️ not easy to find. I am just lucky to still have my old contacts.
However, what works for me does (most likely) not work for others. I would not recommend‌ for an inexperienced person to move to Egypt.

In three weeks I will be back‍ to Egypt. I keep you posted how things proceed.
 
Yeah, honestly the⁢ residency by investment scheme was all over the place, they were changing the requirements every︀ couple of months and it seems like they decided to focus on the CBI program︁ instead, which as you discovered mainly targets Syrians and other Arabs.
there are far better︂ residency schemes but it requires you having a company (which you don't want to do)︃ and very careful planning.
Yeah, I understand︆
haha, seems like you found your call 🙂 , is this kind of informal︉ retirement visa? First time I heard about it, I heard of something similar, not for︊ residency, but for the purpose of opening bank accounts.
Yeah, all your⁢ foreign investments shall be tax free, and same goes for crypto, even though unlicensed crypto︀ activities are "banned", I've never receive a single issue when I wanted to transfer some︁ of my crypto earnings to my Egyptian bank accounts (I usually use this money for︂ further investments in the country).
ha, I wounder 🙂 this is just the︄ "official info", they don't really care if you are actively trading or not, and even︅ if they do (they don't) trading with an offshore corporate entity solve this issue.
That's true.
Yeah tax ID is︈ usually issued for people who want to do commercial activities (investing in Egyptian stocks, doing︉ business in egypt...etc) and be in the legal side (As there are plethora of business︊ who don't have a tax ID and are still operating to this day), but for︋ other individuals, their ID (national ID, passport) is more than fine for most purposes.

Why do you need this anyway? if for foreign bank accounts and brokers, you simply do︌ a self declaration that Egypt is your tax residence country and you tell them that︍ the Egypt doesn't issue TIN in your case (you usually have to provide other documents︎ like utility bills and such to support your claim).

If you still want a TIN,️ your only option is to have a reason to justify having one, and this can‌ be done by simply investing some of your money in Egyptian stocks (can be as‍ low as 10000 EGP) and because of that your investments is so low, you will⁠ pay 0% taxes. see.

It's not hard, but it requires careful planning.
Can't argue with that, the internet in Egypt is in a terrible state, it's even︃ shitty because there is a quota on the internet and you need to recharge every︄ time you exceed your monthly quota.
Yeah, that's why︇ I said you need to find a local advisor with knowledge in the international market,︈ you can find such people by searching the legal500 directory and you will find great︉ firms there, some of whom I worked with in the past.
I agree, egypt is not for everyone︌ nor for the faint of heart, but you know what? that's what I like about︍ it, it's not mainstream and you have to cross your t's and dot your i'︎ before doing anything in egypt, and that's why Egypt manage to fly under the radar️ for so many years, but once you figure it all out, you will find that‌ nothing beats Egypt in Africa and even in the offshore world.
there are handful of‍ countries that give you the opportunities that Egypt give you, plus the close ties between⁠ Egypt and certain countries like the UAE offers Great opportunities for the right minds.
I know that what I talk about here might contain some buzzwords, but I already share⁤ a lot about myself in this forum and I don't want to share more than⁣ that.
Great. Looking forward to your update 🙂
 
@MiddleEuroAsia
Yes, you can say it is an "informal" retirement‍ visa. It is a plastic card with photo, contains your Egyptian address and personal data.⁠ There is nothing shady with it, it is absolutely official. The point is that giving⁤ it out for one full year is in the discretion of the relevant head of⁣ the district immigration department. In "my" district policy is very restrictive: They only give it⁢ to >50 years with a notarized rental contract and you have to be from a︀ "Western Block" country. This "Western Block" is arbitrarily - they distinguish between East and West︁ and cut Europe along the former iron curtain. If you are not from a "Western︂ Block" country it will only be given with a validity of three to six months,︃ despite you being >50 years.

The same thing already existed during the Mubarak era, just︄ that during that time it was two huge stamps in your passport (each of them︅ filled an entire site) of which the residence permit (stamp 1) was also valid for︆ a year (if you were >50 years). Just the multiple entry stamp (stamp 2) was︇ only valid for 6 months - Egyptian logic 😵 . So you always had to go︈ twice a year to the immigration department in order to renew the multiple entry stamp︉ (stamp 2) despite the fact that your residence permit (stamp 1) was valid for a︊ year. This procedure was completely bonkers and filled the passport quite fast .... stupi#21

Today both︋ is unified (if you pay the additional multiple entry fee) and the residence permit +︌ multiple entry permission both have always the same validity - which surprises me because it︍ is such a logical procedure 😀.

With regards to taxes, banking and crypto this is the️ "official info". I think it is not a good idea to post other than that‌ in a public forum. People will just get the wrong impression and think we are‍ talking about a new Heaven on Earth (which Egypt is not).

Correct. That was always the case and is still the case.
Best solution is -as you⁤ rightly pointed out- to buy Egyptian stocks. A tiny amount may be into CIB just⁣ for this specific purpose. I am looking into it. Unfortunately, the branch of EFG Hermes⁢ in "my" town has been closed, so that requires some travel.

I always go with this list, no matter which country. Worked︀ great for me and I never got disappointed. The lawyer and one tax advisor in︁ Egypt is from that list, the other tax advisor I still know from the old︂ days. We would probably make a good Bridge-Table in a senior citizens home .

This is︃ a huge downside and not to be underestimated.
I think it is fair to say︄ that anybody who relies on modern IT should stay away from Egypt. Otherwise he/she will︅ very soon be totally frustrated.
 
As you will know‍ there is a distinction between a resident citizen and a resident foreigner, specifically when it⁠ comes to banking. A resident foreigner has significant advantages and receives a much more open-minded⁤ treatment compared to a resident citizen. Of course, deposit size also plays a role and⁣ if you deal with a private bank or one of the two state-owned banks, the⁢ latter better to be avoided.
Nevertheless, in light of the new CBE announcement (Law 194︀ of 2020, Art. 206/CBE) I would avoid any direct transfer from a crypto exchange. It︁ makes life easier for both sides.
 
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