This article was published yesterday under the headline “Egypt cabinet sets proposed fee for one-year permit to foreigners at $100,000” and contained several errors. The cabinet's new measure increases the value of the property a non-Egyptian must hold from $50,000 to $100,000 in order to qualify for a one-year residence permit; it does not institute a fee for purchasing the permit. It also does not require all foreigners seeking a one-year residence permit to do so via ownership of property. We regret the error. Egypt's cabinet on Wednesday amended legal regulations that allow non-Egyptians who hold property in the country to obtain residence permits, increasing the value of property required to apply for a one-year residency permit to $100,000, up from the existing figure of $50,000. In an official statement, the cabinet said the new regulations represent an incentive for foreigners to buy residential property in Egypt in light of an increase in the value of real estate. A five-year residency permit will be available for those non-Egyptians who own property worth $400,000 or more, the statement said. The cabinet's decision comes a few days after parliament's defence and national security committee approved a governmental draft law to amend regulations related to granting citizenship to foreigners. The head of the committee Kamal Amer said the aim of the draft bill is to create a new a regulatory system for granting residency to foreigners in the wake of a spike in foreigners' requests for residencies in Egypt amid ongoing conflicts in the region. Foreigners seeking to obtain residency in the country, under the proposed legislation, would have to place a Certificate of Deposit (CD) in the required amounts in foreign currency with no interest rate in Egyptian banks. Foreign residents who maintain a five-year CD in banks would qualify to apply for citizenship. Amer added that citizenship would only be granted after security clearance and following the approval of several security apparatuses. Egypt has been attempting to attract foreign investments by easing bureaucratic governmental procedures. Last week, Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said a new investment law is expected to be issued this month.
