Hire Employees in Egypt

Your own entity is normally an LLC or a joint stock company under GAFI. Incorporation is workable but commits you to Egyptian corporate reporting, monthly NOSI declarations and an Arabic-language contract lodged with the labour office.

An Employer of Record inverts the sequence: the Egyptian entity signs the Arabic contract, registers the employee with the National Organisation for Social Insurance, withholds income tax and manages the labour office filings, while you direct the day-to-day work.

Egyptian labour law applies to work performed in Egypt. Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 reshaped several obligations, so guidance written before that law needs re-checking rather than relying on.

Egypt's employer contribution is 18.75% but the ceiling is low enough that the absolute cost is trivial for professional hires. Contributions stop at an insured salary of EGP 16,700 a month for 2026, giving a maximum employer contribution of about EGP 3,131, roughly EGP 3,298 once the Labour Emergency Fund is added. On a senior salary that is a fraction of a percent.

The ceiling is uprated by 15% each January through 2027 under a legislated schedule, so it moves predictably rather than by discretion. Directors named in the commercial register are treated differently, at a flat 21% on the maximum.

The reason to use an EOR is not cost but termination. Egypt does not permit unilateral dismissal. An employer wishing to terminate for cause must apply to the competent labour court, which decides whether the grounds are made out. There is no equivalent of notice-and-pay to exit an employee who has not resigned or committed a listed offence.

Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 rebased the training fund contribution and adjusted several obligations, so guidance written before that law needs re-checking. Contracts must be in Arabic and lodged with the labour office, and foreign staff are subject to a quota against Egyptian employees.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a small Egyptian entity somewhere between 15 and 20 employees. Model both before committing, see EOR vs Entity for the full comparison, and plan any later migration so employees keep seniority.

The contribution rate is 18.75% but the ceiling is low enough that absolute cost is trivial for professional hires. Contributions stop at an insured salary of EGP 16,700 a month for 2026, giving a maximum employer contribution of about EGP 3,131, roughly EGP 3,298 once the Labour Emergency Fund is added. On a senior salary that is a fraction of a percent.

The ceiling and the EGP 2,700 floor are both uprated by 15% each January through 2027 under a legislated schedule, so they move predictably rather than by discretion.

Directors named in the commercial register are treated differently, at a flat 21% on the maximum insured salary rather than the graduated employee rate. That distinction is easy to miss when a founder is also an employee.

Social insurance is not the whole employer cost, and three further items are easy to miss. Health insurance adds 3.25% employer and is separate from social insurance and uncapped. The Labour Emergency Fund under Law 156 of 2002 adds 1% of insurable wage, employer-only. EGP 167 a month at the ceiling, and calculators showing EGP 27 are applying it to the minimum wage instead. A mandatory annual raise of at least 3% of the social insurance wage, floored at EGP 250 a month, applies on top. Real employer overhead therefore runs nearer 22% to 25% than the headline 18.75%. Note also that the social insurance element is capped at EGP 3,131.25 a month, so an employee on EGP 80,000 costs the same as one on EGP 18,000.

Four representative profiles, costed with the 2026 contribution rates above. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data, use them to see how the on-cost percentage behaves as pay rises, not as a salary benchmark for a specific role. For real market data on your roles, ask for a costing.

Because the main charges are capped, the on-cost percentage falls sharply above the ceiling. Model a senior hire explicitly rather than scaling the junior figure, the error runs in your favour but it distorts the comparison against uncapped markets.

Four representative profiles costed on 2026 statutory rates. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data.

Payroll runs monthly in Egyptian pounds. NOSI contributions are declared and paid monthly, and income tax is withheld and remitted on the same cycle.

Income tax is progressive with a tax-free bracket and rates rising to 27.5%, and the brackets are periodically rebased, the 2025 reforms adjusted both the exempt threshold and the band structure. A personal exemption applies on top of the zero-rate band.

There is no statutory thirteenth month, but an annual increase is. Egyptian law requires a periodic minimum increase to salaries, historically set as a percentage of the insured salary, and it is a statutory obligation rather than a merit decision. Employers who budget flat salaries year on year are planning against the law.

Thresholds and ceilings are uprated periodically, so a figure correct in January may not hold later in the year. Where a row below is flagged, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved.

Thresholds move on a local cycle that does not always fall in January, so a figure correct at the start of the year may not hold through it. Where a row below carries a flag, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved, there are 1 such rows on this page.

The sections that follow set out contracts and probation, working time, leave, termination and immigration in that order. Where an entitlement comes from a collective agreement rather than statute it is marked as such, because that distinction determines whether it is negotiable.

Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 replaced the 2003 statute and reshaped several obligations, including the training fund basis and aspects of dismissal procedure. Because the change is recent, published guidance frequently still describes the previous regime, and the two differ enough that following the older version produces wrong answers on process rather than merely stale figures.

A written contract in Arabic is required, in triplicate, with one copy lodged with the social insurance office. Where a translation exists the Arabic text governs.

Probation may not exceed three months and may be used only once with the same employer for the same role. It must be expressly stated in the contract; an unwritten probation period does not exist.

Fixed-term contracts are permitted and expire by their terms. Renewal is where the position changes: repeated renewal converts the relationship to indefinite, and the protection against unilateral dismissal attaches from that point. Because indefinite employees cannot be dismissed without a court application, the contract form is a more consequential decision in Egypt than in most markets.

Eight hours a day and 48 a week, excluding breaks. Overtime is paid at 135% for daytime hours and 170% at night, with 200% for rest days and public holidays. During Ramadan, working hours for Muslim employees are commonly reduced.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually start. Record hours from day one even where the role is salaried and the expectation is that overtime will not arise, reconstructing records after a complaint is far harder than keeping them.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually begin, and the burden of proving hours worked generally sits with the employer. Record hours from the first day even for salaried roles where overtime is not expected, reconstructing a record after a complaint is considerably harder than keeping one.

Public holidays sit on top of the annual leave entitlement. Where a holiday falls at a weekend, practice varies, some markets move it, some grant a substitute day and some do neither, so check the position before assuming a day in lieu.

The 17 dates below are the statutory position. Employers in many markets grant more by policy or collective agreement, and sector agreements sometimes add local or patronal days that do not appear in a national list.

Egypt observes 17 paid public holidays in 2026. Dates that fall at a weekend and any substitution rules are set out below; entitlement is separate from annual leave.

Maternity: 4 months, of which at least 45 days follow the birth. Paid, for employees with at least 10 months of insurance contributions. Available twice during service under the 2025 law. Childcare leave: Up to 2 years unpaid, in establishments above a size threshold. Job protected; available twice during service. Paternity: 1 day. Introduced by Labour Law No. 14 of 2025. Sick leave: Up to 180 days a year for a chronic condition. Paid by social insurance at 75% rising to 85%, subject to conditions.

Pilgrimage leave: 1 month once during service. Paid, after 5 years of service.

The employer cannot dismiss unilaterally. Where an employer believes grounds exist, it files a request with the labour court, and the employment continues until the court rules. That single feature makes Egypt one of the harder markets in this guide to exit an employee from, and it should shape hiring decisions rather than being discovered at the end.

Fixed-term contracts expire by their terms without court involvement, which is why they are widely used, but repeated renewal converts the relationship to indefinite, and the protection attaches from that point.

Where a dismissal is found to be without valid justification, compensation is set by the court and is not capped by a statutory formula, so the exposure is open-ended.

End-of-service entitlements are settled through the social insurance system rather than as a separate employer lump sum, which is a meaningful difference from the Gulf markets Egypt is often grouped with.

A foreign national needs a work permit from the Ministry of Manpower, renewed annually and tied to the employer. The application requires proof that the role cannot be filled by an Egyptian national, plus medical clearance including HIV testing.

Foreign staff are capped at 10% of the workforce in most sectors, calculated against Egyptian employees, with a further limit on the share of total payroll. Exemptions exist for specific investment regimes and for roles designated as requiring rare expertise.

Allow two to three months. Work permits in free zones and under the investment law follow separate and generally faster routes.

The employer cannot dismiss unilaterally, and this shapes everything. Where an employer believes grounds exist it files a request with the labour court, and the employment continues until the court rules. There is no notice-and-pay route to exit an employee who has not resigned or committed a listed offence.

Compensation for a dismissal found to be without valid justification is set by the court and is not capped by a statutory formula, so the exposure is open-ended rather than modellable.

Practical controls: use fixed-term contracts deliberately and track renewals, keep the Arabic contract lodged and current, apply the correct rate for registered directors, and treat the hiring decision as the point at which exit risk is managed, because after it, the options narrow sharply.

Work backwards from the start date. For an Egyptian national through an EOR, one to two weeks is realistic. A foreign national needs a work permit from the Ministry of Manpower, adding two to three months, and the foreign staff quota must be satisfied.

Confirm before making an offer: that the Arabic contract will be prepared and lodged with the labour office; whether the role can be filled by a foreign national under the quota; and that the exit position is understood, since dismissal requires a court application rather than notice.

NOSI registration must be completed before the employee starts. Contributions are calculated on the insured salary between the EGP 2,700 floor and the EGP 16,700 ceiling, both of which are uprated each January, so the figures need refreshing annually rather than carried forward.