Living in Egypt as a Foreigner: Residence, Al-Azhar, Costs and Safety

Egypt is a Muslim-majority country home to Al-Azhar, one of the oldest centres of Islamic learning, and to a large and varied foreign community. This guide pulls together what official and well-documented sources say today about residence, study at Al-Azhar, costs, schools, halal rules, health insurance and safety. It is information, not advice: rules change, residence and property-linked rules in particular, and a licensed professional should review any legal decision. Where an official page could not be opened on 12 November 2026, we say so and name the secondary source used.

Hijrapass does not call any country better than another. For a comparison by criteria, see the ranking of Muslim-majority countries, or read our guides to Turkey and Morocco.

Entry and residence permits

Residence in Egypt is handled by the General Directorate of Passports, Immigration and Nationality under the Ministry of Interior, with its main office in Abbasiya, Cairo, according to a law-firm report. Another source says applicants must complete the procedure in person there. Older sources call the same body the Immigration and Nationality Administration. Official pages were not retrievable, so the points below come from legal and expatriate guides.

• Tourist entry is not residence. Work or study cannot be done on a tourist visa; those activities require a residence permit.
• Categories listed by commercial guides: work, student, family reunification, investor or property, retirement, and permits for refugees. A special ten-year card exists for foreigners born in Egypt, according to one guide.
• Student permits are described as required for foreign students enrolled in Egyptian institutions for more than 30 days. Guides disagree on timing: one says to apply within 30 days of arrival or before the entry visa expires, whichever is earlier, another says consulates do not issue student visas, so the application follows entry. Student permits are often issued per semester and a holder may not be permitted to work on them.

Fees and rules have changed over time and some guides quote different currencies, so we publish no fees.

Residency linked to property or deposits

Egypt has promoted residency routes for foreigners who buy property or place a deposit. Published figures conflict, and none of the sources we read cites the decree text itself:

Source (secondary)	Figure reported
Andersen Egypt	Minimum USD 200,000 property from licensed developers, with at least USD 100,000 paid to the developer before applying
Invest-Gate (reporting a Housing Ministry official)	Residency if the full price of a finished unit is paid, or at least USD 100,000 down payment on an under-construction unit
IMI Daily	USD 50,000 property for a one-year permit; USD 100,000 deposit in a state-owned bank for a three-year permit
Global Investments (updated June 2026)	USD 100,000 property value for a five-year renewable permit

A Rio Times piece of September 2026 says the routes rest on a ministerial decree of March 2023 that amended a 2019 decree, and a Mondaq piece from March 2026 advises checking current practice against the latest administrative requirements. For this reason, Hijrapass publishes no single threshold. Confirm with the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Interior or an Egyptian law firm. Nothing here suggests that you should apply for a route.

Studying Arabic and at Al-Azhar

Al-Azhar admits international students through its foreign students portal, which publishes the admission rules and the scholarship form. Applicants must meet both Al-Azhar’s and Egypt’s admission rules and submit complete documents before the deadline (typically a certified school certificate, passport copies and photos). Some countries announce scholarship seats, often limited to Islamic studies or Shari’ah-related fields, through their own education ministries. Because requirements and deadlines differ by country and year, check with Al-Azhar and with the Egyptian cultural and educational office in your home country. We do not quote a scholarship package here: the only figures we found come from a blog, which we do not treat as sufficient.

A student who is enrolled must hold a student residence permit (see above). We did not find an official source that lets us compare Arabic-language centres, so we list none.

Costs and the pound

Official data come from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). Reported in the press on 10 November 2026, annual urban headline inflation was 12.7% in October 2026, down from 13.9% in September and the third consecutive monthly fall. Monthly urban inflation was 0.7%, and annual core inflation, reported by the Central Bank of Egypt, was 13.1%.

The pound is volatile. Egypt has let the exchange rate float since March 2024. The Central Bank of Egypt’s listing on 4 November 2026 showed about EGP 54.63 buy and EGP 54.77 sell per US dollar (the page’s tables are ambiguous, so check the CBE site for the figure you need). Press reports say the dollar passed EGP 55 on 23 October 2026 and EGP 56 at some banks soon after, and that before the regional conflict it traded near EGP 48. Any dollar budget should assume it can move within days. We give no rent levels: we found no official, verified rent series.

Schools

The Ministry of Education and Technical Education oversees private and international schools. Recent rules reported in the press include: a ban on transfers into third-year secondary at international schools from 2026/2027; a 2024 decree making Arabic, religion and national education compulsory and part of the final grade; a ministerial ban on collecting tuition in foreign currency, with tuition subject to ministry approval; and, from April 2026, central ministry stamping of American Diploma certificates. We did not find rules specific to foreign pupils, so ask each school and the ministry’s private-education administration about admission, curriculum and fees.

Religious life

Al-Azhar’s mosque and university are a centre of Islamic learning. We did not retrieve an official source on the number of mosques or the work of the Ministry of Awqaf, so we state no figures. Differences of opinion among scholars on whether and when to emigrate are covered in our guide to making hijrah.

Halal context

Egypt regulates halal certification of imported food. According to the US Department of Agriculture and other reports, in 2021 ISEG Halal was named the only recognised certifier for all food products and factories; a December 2023 decree opened the door for other international certifiers to be accredited, and the company later changed its trade name to Halal-ALQAHIRAH. In May 2025 the prime minister said imported dairy would no longer need halal certification. These rules concern imports; we found no official source on halal retail inside Egypt.

Healthcare and insurance

Egypt is rolling out a Universal Health Insurance System (UHIS) in phases. Phase 1 covers six governorates (Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, South Sinai, Luxor and Aswan) and had around 5.4 million beneficiaries at 30 April 2026. Phase 2 starts in Minya, and the nationwide target was brought forward to 2027 from the original 2032. We found no source on whether foreign residents can enrol, so we make no claim. Hijrapass does not recommend any insurance product.

Safety

UK FCDO (read 12 November 2026, last updated 27 October 2026): the FCDO advises against all travel to North Sinai and within 20 km of the Libya border (except El Salloum, where only essential travel is advised). It advises against all but essential travel to northern South Sinai beyond the St Catherine-Nuweibaa road (excluding coastal areas), the eastern Ismailiyah Governorate, the Western Desert (with listed exceptions including Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Faiyum and Siwa), and the Hala’ib Triangle and Bir Tawil Trapezoid. It also warns that regional tensions are unpredictable, that borders with Israel and Palestine, including Taba, could close at short notice, and that the Rafah crossing is closed. Travelling against FCDO advice may void insurance. See the full FCDO advice and the US State Department advisory.

Settling in: the first 90 days

We cannot give a personalised checklist, but a family planning a move can organise the first three months around the points that official or well-documented sources make:

1. Confirm your status before you rely on it. Tourist entry does not allow work or study, so find out which residence category applies and where the directorate’s procedures start.
2. Plan for currency moves. With the pound floating, check the Central Bank of Egypt rate before committing to dollar-priced rent, tuition in foreign currency (which private schools may not collect) or large purchases.
3. Check the map. Compare your intended region against the FCDO’s list before you sign a lease or book school places.
4. Ask schools for admission rules and the Arabic and religion requirements that now count toward the final grade.
5. Verify health arrangements in writing, since eligibility for the public scheme for foreigners is not established in the sources we found.

Questions to put to official sources

The Ministry of Interior (residence categories, fees, documents), the Ministry of Housing or an Egyptian law firm (property-linked residency), Al-Azhar’s foreign-student office (admission and deadlines), the Central Bank of Egypt (rates), and each school are the right places for the points we could not settle. The methodology page explains how Hijrapass chooses and dates its sources.