In most countries, a foreigner or visitor inevitably faces difficulties, primarily because they do not have the same rights as locals. This is especially true in times of unemployment, when governments impose more restrictions on foreigners to prioritise jobs for their own citizens. But in Egypt, as is often the case with many other distorted realities, the situation appears reversed. Here, foreigners enjoy rights that effectively make them ‘first-class citizens’, while Egyptians—the people of this land, who have endured endless struggles—are treated as ‘second-class citizens’, especially when those foreigners come from so-called sovereign nations like the European Union or the USA.
It is true that Egypt’s education system and the competence of many university graduates are open to question. However, the country is still home to millions of skilled individuals capable of forging successful careers—if only they were given the opportunity. It may be reasonable for foreigners to work in Egypt if they specialise in highly technical fields where local expertise is lacking. But when they come here to compete for secretarial jobs, translation roles, and basic administrative tasks, it is nothing less than a blatant disregard for the most fundamental right of an ordinary Egyptian: to have their livelihood protected. Take, for example, an American or European who boards a plane to Egypt without needing a visa—simply because of a unilateral decision that no one here was consulted on. Upon arrival at Cairo airport, their passport is stamped with a one-month tourist visa—a policy that, to some extent, can be justified to support the tourism sector. But then, they visit the Mogamma in Tahrir Square, renew their visa for six months in a matter of minutes, paying no more than 50 pounds. This process can be repeated an unlimited number of times, allowing some of them to live in Egypt for years—still as ‘tourists’.
Has any official ever asked how these ‘tourists’ sustain themselves for years in Egypt? Has anyone questioned how they afford a high standard of living here? Does it not strike anyone as odd that spending years as a ‘tourist’ in one country is completely illogical? Apparently not. No one seems to care. No one seems to realise that these ‘tourists’ are actually working—by the thousands. And not just in specialised fields, but in the most basic of jobs. Take, for instance, a Frenchman working for the International Organisation for Migration, translating interviews from Arabic to English for a salary of $1,200 a month—even though he is not fully fluent in either language. If the person in charge of hiring him had simply closed their eyes and picked any Egyptian university graduate ‘off the street’, they would have found someone more competent—at the very least, someone who speaks their own language fluently. That Egyptian would have had their life transformed by earning even 1,200 pounds a month, let alone dollars, and they would have become a productive and valuable citizen in their own country.
Meanwhile, the ‘tourist’—French or otherwise—pays no income tax, because, legally, they are not employed. They are here purely out of their ‘love for Egypt’. And yet, they still have access to public services, including subsidised ones. Not only that, but the authorities also make it their duty to protect these ‘distinguished visitors’ from the supposed dangers posed by the local population—all in the name of safeguarding Egypt’s tourism industry and international image. This is no secret; it is common knowledge. Everyone knows these foreigners are here to work, to compete with Egyptians for jobs, and to benefit from the overwhelming bias shown by many foreign companies and NGOs operating in Egypt. These organisations hire foreigners for even the most trivial roles. And when, by some miracle, they do hire an Egyptian for the same job, their salary is often less than a quarter of what their foreign colleague earns—an inequality that can only be described as blatant racism, practiced by a privileged foreign minority against the rightful citizens of this country.
This trend has only worsened during the global financial crisis, as rising unemployment in major Western economies has led more and more people to travel to Egypt as ‘tourists’—only to search for jobs, as if this country does not suffer from unemployment itself. Yet, in their own countries, even within the very same organisations that hire foreigners in Egypt, the rules are completely different. Take Oxfam, for example. In its London office, it refuses to hire non-British staff, even for positions related to Egyptian affairs—because it prioritises jobs for its own citizens. It protects the rights of its local workforce, treating them as ‘first-class citizens’. Meanwhile, other countries continue to treat their own people as ‘second-class citizens’, completely disregarding their right to fair employment opportunities.
This article is originally published by AlBorsa in Arabic and later AI-translated by South Push.