- How can you get Egyptian citizenship?
- Naturalization is a special way of obtaining citizenship
- Loss of Egyptian citizenship
Egyptian resorts have become almost native to hundreds of thousands of Russians, the hospitality of local residents, a wonderful vacation on the seashore, and the richest cultural programs pleases. For this reason, many foreign guests begin to wonder how to obtain Egyptian citizenship, whether it is possible for a European to naturalize in this country and what benefits a new passport can bring.
We will try in this material to give, if possible, complete answers to the above questions. At the same time, let us turn directly to the normative legal acts in force in Egypt, in particular, to the law on citizenship, the first edition of which was adopted in 1958 (!). Based on this, it is clear how seriously the Egyptian authorities take the regulation of the civil rights of their residents and immigrants, potential candidates for citizenship.
How can you get Egyptian citizenship?
In the Arab Republic of Egypt, according to the law on citizenship, there is a list of grounds that give the right to obtain a passport, including: grounds by birthright, but with reservations; basis of origin; by naturalization.
The main role is that all the grounds are applied selectively, the gender issue plays, that is, the issue of the child's citizenship is resolved differently in the event that his father is a citizen of Egypt, or the mother has a passport of a citizen of this state. Let's consider in a little more detail.
The very fact that a baby appears in Egyptian territory is not a basis for automatically obtaining citizenship, for this to happen, other conditions must be present. A child whose mother is Egyptian and whose father is stateless at the time of birth is automatically considered an Egyptian citizen. The second case of automatic admission to citizenship, when the father is unknown, but the mother has an Egyptian passport. If both parents are unknown, then this case also falls under the basis of acquiring citizenship by birth.
On the other hand, if a child was born in Egypt and lived most of his life here until the age of majority, then he has the right to obtain citizenship after the age of eighteen. True, the decision on this must be made by the President of the country. A child will receive citizenship by descent only if his father is an Egyptian citizen, while he is legally married to the child's mother, a foreign citizen.
Naturalization is a special way of obtaining citizenship
For an adult foreigner, there is no other way to citizenship of the Arab Republic of Egypt other than naturalization. There is no separate normative legal act regulating naturalization processes in the country. There are general conditions that potential applicants for Egyptian citizenship must meet:
- permanent residence in Egypt for a certain period of time;
- knowledge of the language, in an amount sufficient for oral communication;
- availability of a source of income.
In each case of applying for Egyptian citizenship, the individual characteristics of the applicant are taken into account. For example, if the father belongs to the representatives of a national minority, but professes Islam and knows Arabic well, then his child, born in this country, can immediately apply for citizenship, it is not required to comply with the residency requirement.
Quite often there are cases in Egypt when foreign citizens who have married an Egyptian passport holder apply for citizenship to special structures. Such ladies can not withstand the required period, immediately apply for citizenship, and the package of documents must contain the written consent of the husband for the wife to receive an Egyptian passport. Then, for two years, the authorities will monitor this marriage, and then the foreign spouse will receive the coveted Egyptian passport. All other persons who do not fall into these categories are subject to the statutory period of ten years of permanent residence in the country.
Loss of Egyptian citizenship
The question is quite sensitive, since, on the one hand, they name two grounds for the loss of citizenship of the Arab Republic of Egypt - voluntary and involuntary. On the other hand, it is difficult to argue that the refusal is voluntary, when a person independently renounces Egyptian citizenship, but he first needs to obtain permission to refuse.
Involuntary loss of citizenship has various grounds and reasons, for example, the commission by a person of certain offenses, the adoption of foreign citizenship automatically pulls the loss of the rights of an Egyptian citizen. There is one more reason to part with a citizen's passport - permanent residence abroad for 6 months.
