A popular Egyptian adage says “El Masry met-han gowa we bara – the Egyptian is demeaned inside and out [of their country].
This may explain why the desire du jour for many Egyptians is to possess a second, foreign passport.
Whether giving you a way around Egyptian laws or giving you preferential treatment, a foreign passport simply opens doors that would otherwise be firmly shut.
A foreign passport is an attractive alternative gaining an unwarranted advantage or at least level their playing field in their own country.
Be it written law or common practice, exceptions are made for Egyptians with foreign passports to gamble, have a drink during the holy month of Ramadan or booking a hotel room, without questions asked or privacy invaded.
Surely though, there must be other benefits behind this growing trend.
Questioning by airport customs officials and military conscription issues may also play a role.
Mohammed, who has recently purchased himself a “Gambian passport, happily admits, “I don’t need to go to the Mogamaa in Tahrir Square anymore, every time I come to Egypt a whole day is wasted of my five-day holiday trying to get my temporary exemption from conscription, now I just walk right through.
While an obscure African passport may be all Mohammed needs to go swiftly through passport control, it takes a much more pricy permit to overcome Egyptian bureaucracy as Mori discovered.
In one of Egypt’s summer resorts, Mori, an Eritrean by birth, upon reporting her phone stolen to tourist police, was informed that nothing could be done, that no one had before reported a missing phone and no procedures exist to deal with such a matter.
However, with the display of her British passport, tourist police were all smiles.
She quietly sipped a cup of tea as police located and returned her phone to her.
A foreign passport is a ticket out of criminal prosecution for others. Even the doors of a country can open up on a whim. Escaping charges that vary between bank fraud and negligence leading to death of thousands, suspects with dual nationalities miraculously vanish, to show up in various European capitals with which Egypt has no extradition agreements.
While there are certain government jobs that require Egyptian nationals to give up a second nationality and refrain from marrying a foreigner, there are still certain occupations exclusively reserved for foreign passports.
Despite a year of hard work as a teacher’s assistant at an international school in Egypt, Hoda, with her posh English accent and an international upbringing, found out the hard way that despite equal qualifications as her Egyptian-American colleague, she was not good enough to get a promotion.
“Parents complain, ‘we pay all this money and get an Egyptian teacher!’ explained the headmaster.
A foreign passport makes buying a car worth over LE 500,000 an attainable endeavor for some; at worst allows “payment in installments.
With the regular need to renew the overly priced car license, or for a student to depart the country every six months, or as a working resident to treat your car to a trip outside Egypt, the final cost may amount in whole to paying taxes.
Madiha, who owns a pricey car, explains however, “at least it’s like paying the same price of your car in Egypt, but in installments, not all up front.
With future tension and upheaval increasingly shaping not only a country but an entire region, people would only admit behind closed doors that a foreign passport is a guarantee against an uncertain future.
Egypt is witnessing dramatic changes, with worrisome indications for some, about where the country is heading.
