Went to the Mogamma today about the citizenship. I will detail that in another thread.
This is for you guys worried about the thread Newcomer posted a month or so ago, re: residency visa for foreigners residing in Egypt.
At window 28 of the Mogamma they have a sign up. It is next to the windows that you do the residency visas at 30/31 and opposite 3x 3 star officers. The sign is in arabic. Maybe it has just gone up? maybe non arabic speakers missed it.
It gives 4 conditions for option 1.
We went to ask one of these officers with 3 stars on the lapel and seemed official and was dealing with all the legalities of the visas etc. He seemed very clued up and was very polite and helpful.
He said this.
You can get the residency visa 2 ways.
1) By having a property to the value of $50,000. We asked for further clarification and he said that it MUST be registered, and it must be to the value of the 50,000 dollars. he quoted the price in Sterling that day, but I forget it. If your property is not registered ie with a company/compound, and not handed over to the council yet you CANNOT get the visa that way. You HAVE to have been paying property tax on it and you cannot do that till you register it with the council. If you have a registered property in your name it MUST have been bought with money from OUTSIDE of EGYPT. You MUST provide a letter from your bank to confirm that the money came from a foreign bank to your Egyptian one. The money that is brought in in foreign currency HAS to be changed into Egyptian currency, and you MUST show proof of that transaction, either from your bank or a bureau de change. You also MUST provide to the Mogamma a receipt from the place where you have registered your property that shows in YOUR name the property tax that has been paid on it. You also MUST provide one utility bill ie phone or electric in YOUR NAME to the address of your property. These 4 conditions must be met.
If you registered property is registered below the current value and that is under $50,000, you DO NOT qualify for that avenue of residency. He said that you cannot mix property value along with cash savings to bring it up to $50,000. It is either or. He was clear about that.
He said if you do not meet all the criteria for option 1, then you can do option 2.
Option 2
You must have $50,000 cash in an Egyptian bank. That money MUST have come like option 1 from outside Egypt. He said that if you are applying for a residency visa, that means you must have had a tourist one beforehand, and that one does NOT allow work. He said it was to ensure that the money came from outside and not from earnings made illegally in Egypt. You have to provide proof from your Egyptian bank account that all the money came from outside Egypt. It has to be equivalent to $50,000 at the time of applying for the residency visa whatever currency it is in.
He also said that 3 year max was all they were allowing for renewal of touristic visa's. He explained that 3 years was what was decided would be enough time to see all of Egypt as a tourist. That was at the ministry's discretion.
The only other way to stay in Egypt would be as a tourist staying for the max period from the airport visa.
I hope that I have made this understandable as I am typing this fast to make sure I dont forget anything, on the sign and what was said.
It was a clear sign on the window and the officer knew all the details.
Laura Member # 879
posted
This obviously, is not going to be good news to some.
Shanta Qadeema Member # 9889
posted
So I'm on my 2nd one year visa so in theory I can get a 3rd one which gives me an extra year to sort the other possibilities out? This might explain why some are getting renewals without a problem and others aren't. So, let us hope the £ improves against the $ before then!
Hockey mum is 'goin down' Member # 14248
posted
quote:Originally posted by Shanta Qadeema: So I'm on my 2nd one year visa so in theory I can get a 3rd one which gives me an extra year to sort the other possibilities out? This might explain why some are getting renewals without a problem and others aren't. So, let us hope the £ improves against the $ before then!
I think you are right Shanta.
You've got plenty time to sort it out and you still have option 3
Shanta Qadeema Member # 9889
posted
I guess the other question is: what is the position with the 3 month visas? Will they still do them (the airport ones are 30 day / 6 weeks)? And if so is there anything prohibiting you doing 'visa runs' - every 3 months nipping over a border to say Israel or Jordan and coming back again the same day and getting another new 3 month one (so it wouldn't be a 'renewal' it would be a new one.
publicly displayed Member # 15908
posted
If this is true, Sharm, Hurghada and the rest of the tourists cities will be needing Egyptian workers very soon to replace the foreign ones. Let\'s hope they get the same pay as foreigners.
newcomer Member # 1056
posted
quote:Originally posted by Hockey mum is 'goin down': He also said that 3 year max was all they were allowing for renewal of touristic visa's. He explained that 3 years was what was decided would be enough time to see all of Egypt as a tourist. That was at the ministry's discretion.
I've now heard of 7 people who have been told that they can only stay for 3 more months, they include single men and women and are from the UK, US, and France. Although I don't know how long they had been renewing their visas, I do know of people who have been staying here 10 years+ and up to now have been renewing their touristic visas. So that rule isn't hard and fast...like anything here in Egypt!
This however, partly explains why some people are getting their visa renewed and others aren't, and why, when everybody asks about this new law/rule/system, they are told that there isn't one and that you can keep on renewing your visa as long as you like, because nothing has changed officially. But something has changed in the way some officers are deciding to apply the law. It's not all officers, because when I explained what had happened to me to one of the 3 star officers, he told me to fill in another form and he wrote on it that I was permitted to stay for one year; but Mostafa El-Adawi over-ruled him.
So, as it's left up to the "ministry's discretion", and if Madame Lubna and Officer Mostafa El-Adawi have got out of bed on the wrong side the morning you happen to go to Mogamma, you may or may not get your visa renewed again - it depends on how they feel when they look at you! I guess it's just par for the cause
Btw. you can come into Egypt on a 3 month visa if you apply for it from the Egyptian Consulate/Embassy before you come in, whereas the visa from the airport is only one month.
samakwish Member # 9228
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Would being married to an Egyptian man guarantee a visa in Egypt now? What about getting married to two Egyptian men as a kind of insurance policy??
How about smiling sweetly at the 3 star officer in charge?
Any suggestions?
Tigerlily Member # 3567
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quote:Originally posted by samakwish: How about smiling sweetly at the 3 star officer in charge?
Ohhhh girl BEHAVE!!
I actually foresee that our single female expats here in Egypt will all find spouses within a year from now!!
~ TL
jean_bean Member # 13715
posted
when you are married to an egyptian man, you can get a residency visa with not much of a problem. I got a 1 year, then another 1 year, and now a 5 year one. and I didn't even have to go to Mogamma - just the offices in 6th of October.
Reginald Woofington Member # 14248
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Bump to add to Newcomers thread
Hermione Heliotrope. Member # 14248
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bump to follow Satanmademedoit's post on El Tur
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