The total permits issued by Egypt’s Ministry of Interior for locals to work abroad; either for first time or renewal, reached 1,078,254 permits in 2018, down from 1,167,589 permits in 2017, a decrease of 7.7%, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
In its annual bulletin about work abroad permits in 2018, CAPMAS said those permits issued for Egyptians to work abroad for first time reached 390,872 last year, down from 423,434 permits in 2017.
Also, the number of renewed work permits declined to 687,382 in 2018, compared to 744,155 permits in 2017, a decrease to 7.6%.
The CAPMAS revealed that Arab countries accounted for 97.0% of work abroad permits issued for the Egyptians in 2018, equivalent to 1,046,399 permits. Saudi Arabia topped the list by 515,034 permits representing 49.2%, followed by Kuwait by 230,803 permits representing 22.1% of the total number of work abroad permits to Arab countries in 2018.
On the other hand, the total number of permits issued for Egyptians to work in European countries reached 20,169 permits representing 1.9%. Italy topped the list by 17,408 permits representing 86.3%, followed by Greece by 1,688 permits representing 8.4% of the total number of work abroad permits to European countries in 2018.
CAPMAS noted the people with intermediate education accounted for the largest share of work abroad permits, receiving 403,495 permits (37.4%), followed by those with lower education levels, receiving 317,916 permits (29.5%) in 2018.
