Granting citizenship to foreigners has no link with ‘deal of the century’: Egypt

CAIRO – 8 July 2019: No links between the newly-amended law, per which Egypt can grant citizenship for foreigners, and the so-called deal of the century,” said Egypt’s Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdel Al-Aal on Sunday.

The House of Representatives (the lower house of the parliament) approved on Sunday new amendments to the law of Entry and Residence of Foreigners in Egypt that grant citizenship to foreigners who inject their investments into the country.


“The state, [Egypt] with its known boundaries, is not subject to any change," said Abdel Alaa during Sunday session on the amended law.

The amended Article No. 2 stipulates that the prime minister has the right to grant the Egyptian citizenship for any foreigner who bought a state-owned property or a private property, or established an investment project in accordance with the Egyptian Investment Law, or deposited money in hard currency.

As per the new amendments, the Cabinet shall form a unit tasked with considering the applications of granting the citizenship. The unit consists of representatives of ministries of foreign affairs and interior, investments and international cooperation.

The applicants shall submit their forms online and pay $10,000 in fees or its equivalence in Egyptian pound. Then, the unit shall consider the application within only 3 months.

The latest amendments conducted to the Egyptian Nationality Law were approved on September 21, 2017 by the Parliament, stating that “The Egyptian citizenship will be withdrawn from individuals found guilty of participating in a terrorist act, communicating with terrorists or gathering information for terrorists.”

On June 10, 2019, the Defense and National Security Committee of the House of Representatives approved new amendments.