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 only exists on paper and will not be processed.
Only law 190 of 14-MAR-2020 (
citizenship by investment) is applicable. It targets Syrian businessmen and other
rich refugees - well, there will hardly be any Westerner who wants to acquire an Egyptian passport
.
Yeah, honestly the
residency by investment scheme was all over the place, they were changing the requirements every couple of months and it seems like they decided to focus on the CBI program instead, which as you discovered mainly targets Syrians and other Arabs.
there are far better residency schemes but it requires you having a company (which you don't want to do) and very careful planning.
Since I do not want to invest in property (has nothing to do with Egypt; I simply do not like to have a concrete block tied to my legs) this is no option for me.
Yeah, I understand
However, there are other options that are way cheaper and do not tie up anything. A renewable 1-year-residence permit with multiple entry option is still available if one knows his way. Minimum conditions: notarized rental contract, age >50 years, from a "Western Block"
country.
haha, seems like you found your call
, is this kind of informal retirement visa? First time I heard about it, I heard of something similar, not for residency, but for the purpose of opening bank accounts.
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 is kept abroad and proceeds are not transferred to Egypt everything is fine. The logical consequence 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 been completely reworked. As long as a tax resident of Egypt does not engage in any "commercial, industrial or professional activity" and he is merely holding his wealth abroad, sort of a territorial tax system is still in place.
Yeah, all your foreign investments shall be tax free, and same goes for crypto, even though unlicensed crypto activities are "banned", I've never receive a single issue when I wanted to transfer some of my crypto earnings to my Egyptian bank accounts (I usually use this money for further investments in the country).
All this considering that such a tax resident does not act like a day trader.
ha, I wounder
this is just the "official info", they don't really care if you are actively trading or not, and even if they do (they don't) trading with an offshore corporate entity solve this issue.
Tax residency is still automatic: You have to be in Egypt for at least 183 days within 12 months.
That's true.
Tax ID is a bit of a challenge .... I am working on a solution.
Yeah tax ID is usually issued for people who want to do commercial activities (investing in Egyptian stocks, doing business in egypt...etc) and be in the legal side (As there are plethora of business who don't have a tax ID and are still operating to this day), but for 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 do a self declaration that Egypt is your tax residence country and you tell them that the Egypt doesn't issue TIN in your case (you usually have to provide other documents 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.
Most disappointing: The internet. About a decade ago mobile internet was on par with the UAE, specifically when using Etisalat-Egypt. Today it lags far behind, the signal very often being weak. Fixed-line home internet is more stable but it is quite a challenge to get it installed due to connections per building being limited in certain areas of the country. The monopolistic structure of the fixed-line telecom sector (i.e. Telecom Egypt) doesn't exactly help.
Can't argue with that, the internet in Egypt is in a terrible state, it's even shitty because there is a quota on the internet and you need to recharge every time you exceed your monthly quota.
Bottom line: A reliable and trustworthy advisor with many years of experience is key. Unfortunately, such a person is not easy to find. I am just lucky to still have my old contacts.
Yeah, that's why 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 great firms there, some of whom I worked with in the past.
However, what works for me does (most likely) not work for others. I would not recommend for an inexperienced person to move to Egypt.
I agree, egypt is not for everyone nor for the faint of heart, but you know what? that's what I like about 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 radar 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.
In three weeks I will be back to Egypt. I keep you posted how things proceed.
Great. Looking forward to your update
. So you always had to go twice a year to the immigration department in order to renew the multiple entry stamp (stamp 2) despite the fact that your residence permit (stamp 1) was valid for a year. This procedure was completely bonkers and filled the passport quite fast .... 
.
