Egypt Citizenship by Investment: Routes, Costs and Rules in 2026

The legal basis is Law No. 140 of 2019, issued on 30 July 2019. It amended the Entry and Residence of Foreigners Law (No. 89 of 1960) replaced Article 4 bis of the Egyptian Nationality Law (No. 26 of 1975) and added Articles 4 bis 1 and 4 bis 2.^[6] Article 4 bis allows the Prime Minister to grant nationality to a foreigner who buys real estate, sets up an investment project under Investment Law No. 72 of 2017, or deposits foreign currency either as direct revenue to the treasury or as an interest-free deposit at the Central Bank.^[5][6] Many agent sites cite "Law No. 190 of 2019"; the official portal and the published law text both give No. 140 of 2019.

The detailed thresholds sit in Prime Ministerial decrees, not in the law. Decree 3099 of 2019, issued in December 2019, set the original cases. Decree 876 of 2 March 2023 cut them to today's levels^[8][28], and Decree 3562 of 2023 (gazetted 19 September 2023) amended both Decree 3099 and Decree 647 of 2020, the decree that created the vetting unit.^[5][10]

Applications go to the Unit for Examining Naturalisation Applications, a body within the Prime Minister's Office. By law it includes representatives of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, and Investment and International Cooperation, and of the security agencies concerned. Its reception office is on the first floor of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) at 3 Salah Salem Road, Cairo.^[3][5][6] The Prime Minister grants citizenship by decree.

Status (2 October 2026): active. The official portal lists the four programmes and the US$10,000 fee.^[1] The portal's news section has not been updated since 2020, however, so the changes since then are known from the Official Gazette, the Egyptian press and practitioners rather than from the unit itself.

Real estate is the most used route.^[11] The official rule is a purchase worth at least US$300,000, paid with money transferred from abroad. The price can be paid in instalments over up to one year, and the buyer holds temporary residence meanwhile. Citizenship is granted only once the full price is paid.^[2][4]

Which property qualifies

When the scheme opened, only property owned by the state or other public bodies qualified. Law No. 28 of 2023 (issued May 2023) deleted the words "owned by the state or other public legal persons" from Article 4 bis^[9][27], and Decree 3562 of 2023 amended the implementing decree in September 2023. Press reports of that decree list new documents for the property route: the purchase contract, a copy of the building licence, proof that the price was paid into an authorised bank, an undertaking not to sell for five years, and proof of registration.^[10][25] Since then, practitioners report that units from private developers and resale properties are accepted.^[22] The official programmes page still refers only to "real estate" without listing eligible sellers, so get the unit's confirmation that your chosen property qualifies before you sign.^[2]

Rules reported since October 2024

Agents report three rules applied from mid-October 2024. First, two or more applicants may buy one property jointly if each share is worth more than US$300,000. Second, buyers from private developers must open a personal Egyptian bank account and send the full price into it in US dollars. Third, every property in an application must have a valid building permit.^[12] The permit and bank-payment points match the documents reportedly required by Decree 3562/2023.^[25] We could not find the joint-purchase rule in a published decree or on the official portal, so treat it as unit practice reported by practitioners, not as published law.

Holding period and exit

The property must be kept for five years. If you sell it earlier, you must pay US$250,000 to the Central Bank as non-refundable revenue to keep your citizenship.^[2] In effect, an early sale turns the route into the donation route plus the property's resale risk. Foreigners cannot own land or buildings in the Sinai Peninsula (including parts of Ismailia, Suez and Port Said governorates), where only usufruct rights of up to 50 years are possible. Resort towns such as Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab are therefore not straightforward for this route.^[20][22]

The simplest route is a US$250,000 payment to the public treasury, sent from abroad. It is never refunded. It can be split into instalments over up to twelve months, but citizenship is granted only after the final payment. If you withdraw or default, amounts already paid are refunded in Egyptian pounds at the Central Bank rate on the refund date, capped at the rate on the payment date, without interest.^[2][4] Given the pound's history, that refund is worth far less in dollar terms than what you paid in, so do not start instalments unless you are sure of finishing them.

Next to the real-estate route, the donation saves about US$50,000 in headline cost, avoids five years of property risk and the US$250,000 early-sale penalty, and means there is no asset to manage in Egypt. The trade-off is that nothing comes back.

Investment project: US$350,000 plus US$100,000

You set up or join a project under Investment Law 72/2017 with at least US$350,000 and pay a further US$100,000 to the treasury as non-refundable revenue.^[2] Decree 876/2023 dropped the original rule that the investor must hold at least 40% of the project^[8], although some advisers still quote it.^[12] If the project is liquidated, stops trading or changes hands within five years, you must pay US$250,000 to keep citizenship.^[2] The route suits only someone who already has a real business plan for Egypt.

Cash deposit: US$500,000 for three years

A US$500,000 deposit is placed interest-free with the Central Bank for three years. It is refunded in Egyptian pounds at the Central Bank's rate on repayment, not in dollars.^[2][4] That is a large currency risk. The pound traded at about EGP 16 per dollar in March 2022 and passed EGP 50 on the day of the March 2024 float.^[21] Over three years, the opportunity cost of US$500,000 at even 4% is about US$60,000, before any currency loss. For most investors the donation route costs less.

Three points matter more than the headline amounts. First, the US$10,000 fee is set in the law (Article 4 bis 2) and on the official steps page as a single non-refundable payment for the application. It is wired to the unit's account at the Central Bank.^[3][6] Practitioners disagree on whether it covers the whole family file: some describe it as one fee per application^[12], while others say it applies per applicant^[13], as did the 2019 parliamentary committee briefing.^[23] The portal does not settle the point. Budget US$10,000 per file and ask the unit about adult family members.

Second, Egypt publishes no separate due-diligence fee. Vetting is done by state security bodies inside the unit.^[6] Agents' "due diligence" lines are their own charges. Legal fees are not regulated. US$10,000 is a common quote for a straightforward file^[22], and full-service packages run higher.

Third, on the property route, the 2.5% real-estate disposal tax falls on the seller when you resell. Annual real-estate tax is 10% of the assessed rental value, after exemptions.^[18] Developers usually also charge maintenance deposits and club fees at handover, so check these in the contract.

The law and the official steps page set these conditions:^[3][6]

• Any nationality may apply. The official FAQ says the programme is open to all nationalities.^[4] In practice, files depend on the home country's documents. New Syrian files were reportedly suspended in December 2024 after damage to Syria's Immigration and Passport Department building in Damascus; files with documents issued before then continue.^[11]
• Clean record: a criminal-record certificate from your country of nationality, authenticated by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, plus an Egyptian criminal-record certificate.^[3]
• Five-year travel history: an official, authenticated record of your entries and exits for the past five years.^[3]
• Medical examination results, a passport copy, a birth certificate and six photographs.^[3]
• Declaration of other nationalities you hold, and documents for your spouse and children.^[3]
• Funds from a lawful source, transferred from abroad through the banking system under Central Bank rules.^[2][6]
• Security clearance: the unit decides with national-security considerations in mind, at both the preliminary and final stages.^[3]

There is no language test, no interview requirement in the law and no minimum stay before the grant.^[4] Since 2025, however, the unit has reportedly required applicants to attend in person in Egypt for identity verification at filing. Practitioners describe this as a visit of at least two days, plus about four weeks in Egypt after approval, in one trip or two.^[11][22] These visit rules are not on the official portal, so ask your lawyer about the current practice before you plan travel.

The official investment amount does not rise with family size. How each family member becomes Egyptian, though, follows the general nationality law rather than a single family application:

• Minor children. Under Article 6 of Law 26/1975, as amended by Law 28/2023, minor children of a foreigner who acquires Egyptian nationality become Egyptian with the parent. The exception is a child who lives abroad permanently and keeps the parent's former nationality; such a child can choose on reaching majority.^[7][9] Practitioners treat unmarried children under 21 as dependants.^[12][13]
• Wives. The wife does not become Egyptian automatically. Under Article 6 (first paragraph) of Law 26/1975, the wife of a naturalised foreigner acquires nationality if she declares her wish to the Interior Minister and the marriage has not ended (other than by the husband's death) two years after that declaration. The Minister may refuse by a reasoned decision before the two years run out.^[7][15] This is why agents say the spouse receives citizenship about two years after the investor.^[12]
• Husbands. The nationality law has no equivalent route for the foreign husband of a female investor. In that case, apply for the husband as a separate main applicant, or accept that he stays on residence. Confirm this with the unit; the portal is silent.
• Children born later to the new citizen are Egyptian by descent, including when born abroad, and the official FAQ says the status passes on to later generations.^[4]
• Parents, siblings and adult children are not dependants and would each need their own qualifying investment.^[13]

Military service: the official FAQ says children naturalised through the programme are exempt.^[4] It does not address adult male applicants of conscription age, so take legal advice if that applies to you.

This follows the official five-step procedure, with the practical stages added around it.

The Egyptian passport gives visa-free, visa-on-arrival or electronic-travel-authorisation access to 49 destinations in Henley's live data (October 2026).^[24] In the June 2026 edition of the Henley Passport Index it scored 50 and ranked 86th^[19], so it is not a travel-mobility passport. It gives no visa-free access to the Schengen area, the UK, the US or Canada, and a few agents' figures of "99" or "107" destinations count eVisas as well.^[13] The value of an Egyptian passport lies elsewhere:

• Full rights to live, work, buy property (outside the Sinai rules) and run businesses in Egypt without foreign-ownership limits.^[1][20]
• Citizenship that passes to descendants born abroad.^[4]
• A second nationality in the Arab world, for people whose first passport is hard to use or renew.
• Possible treaty-based options such as the US E-2 investor visa, which Egypt has with the US. Under the AMIGOS Act, signed in December 2022, anyone who gained a treaty nationality through a financial investment must have been domiciled in that country for at least three continuous years before applying for an E visa.^[12][26]

Investors who mainly want visa-free travel to Europe should compare a Caribbean passport, or one of the alternatives below, with this route.

Citizenship alone does not make you tax resident in Egypt. You become resident if you have a permanent home in Egypt or spend more than 183 days there in a 12-month period, subject to tax treaties.^[16] Non-residents pay tax only on Egyptian-source income. Residents whose business or professional centre is in Egypt are also taxed on foreign income. Personal income tax rates rise to 27.5% above EGP 1.2 million.^[17]

Egypt has no inheritance, estate, gift or net-wealth tax. Property carries an annual real-estate tax of 10% of assessed rental value and a 2.5% tax on disposal.^[18] Check your home country's rules: an Egyptian passport does not end tax residence or citizenship-based taxation anywhere else.

Egypt allows dual nationality, and the official FAQ says the investment programme places no restriction on holding other nationalities. Your other country's law is what decides whether you can keep it.^[4] Note these limits on naturalised Egyptians:

• Political rights: under Article 9 of Law 26/1975, a naturalised citizen cannot vote for five years or sit in a legislative body for ten years after naturalisation, unless exempted.^[7]
• Withdrawal: the Cabinet may withdraw citizenship obtained by fraud or false statements within ten years. Within five years it may withdraw it for serious criminal convictions, state-security offences or, under Article 15, an absence from Egypt of two consecutive years without an excuse accepted by the Interior Minister.^[4][7][15] The official FAQ mentions only the fraud and criminal grounds. We found no reported case of the absence ground being used against an investor. It is still on the statute book, so investors who never visit Egypt should take advice on it.
• Sinai property: owning property in Sinai is reserved for Egyptians who do not hold another nationality, so new dual citizens remain restricted there.^[20]

The citizenship itself is permanent once granted. You do not have to keep living in Egypt, and your descendants inherit it.^[4]

It suits: investors from the Middle East, Africa or Asia who want a second nationality in a large Arab economy; people who plan to live, retire or do business in Egypt and want full local rights; families who value citizenship that passes to their descendants; and buyers who would invest US$300,000+ in Egyptian property anyway.

Look elsewhere if: your main goal is visa-free travel to Europe, the UK or North America; you need a predictable, fast, fully documented process with published statistics; you cannot spend time in Egypt for the in-person steps; or you are a woman applying with a foreign husband who also needs citizenship.

Comparable programmes at a similar budget:

• Turkish citizenship through a US$400,000 property purchase: a larger market with a 3-year hold and a much stronger passport, though its property-valuation rules changed in September 2026.
• Jordan's investor citizenship routes: the closest Arab-world peer, but its project-based thresholds are higher and were amended in July 2026.
• São Tomé and Príncipe's donation-based passport: an African alternative launched in 2025 with a lower entry price.
• Sierra Leone's restructured citizenship programme: another African option, launched in 2025 with new tiers reported from 1 October 2026.
• Grenada's Caribbean CBI with E-2 treaty access and St Kitts and Nevis, the oldest Caribbean programme: much broader visa-free access for a similar or higher outlay.

If you want to live in Egypt without becoming a citizen, the Egyptian residency-by-investment route through property or deposits is cheaper and simpler. For wider context, see our ranking of the lowest-cost passports by investment, the overview of recently launched CBI programmes, our guide to choosing between a second passport and a residence permit, and the full citizenship-by-investment directory.