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Egypt Work Permit for a Foreign Chef: The 10% Rule

Hiring a Japanese chef in Egypt: the 10% foreign-worker ratio worked as arithmetic, the 20% wage-share cap, two permits and fees that rise with tenure, no official Cairo salary figure, and the still-pending 2025 Labour Law.

Updated September 27, 2026 WashokuJob

Count your Egyptian staff enrolled in social insurance and divide by ten: that is how many foreign hires, including a Japanese chef, your company can register. A restaurant with fewer than ten insured Egyptian employees has no room for one under the 10% rule, whatever the visa route. On top, foreign wages cannot reach 20% of the total wage bill for most company forms. We found no official Cairo salary figure for a chef, so price the role against Japan pay. Work permit fees run from EGP 5,000 in year one, rising with tenure.

This page is for an owner of one of Egypt's roughly 60 Japanese restaurants in Cairo working out whether the Egyptian headcount allows a foreign chef at all. It relies on JETRO's summary of Egyptian rules, last updated 31 October 2025, because the labour ministry's own site could not be reached; treat the figures as a starting point.

On this page

  1. The 10% rule, worked as arithmetic
  2. The market, and a note on sources
  3. Two permits, and fees that rise with tenure
  4. Pay: no official figure for Cairo
  5. The 2025 Labour Law, still pending
  6. Questions employers ask

1. The 10% rule, worked as arithmetic

JETRO sets out Egypt's foreign employment ratio plainly: foreign workers must not exceed 10% of total employees, measured against the number of Egyptian employees enrolled in social insurance. Ten insured Egyptian staff buys room for one foreign hire; twenty buys two. A new restaurant that wants its Japanese head chef in place on opening day needs its Egyptian team hired and registered for social insurance first, not alongside the chef's application.

Hire and register your Egyptian team for social insurance before you file for the Japanese chef. Ten insured Egyptian staff support one foreign hire under the 10% rule. Check the wage share too: for branch offices, joint stock companies and limited liability companies, the Companies Law (Law 159 of 1981, Article 174) and Decree 146 of 2019 also bar paying foreign employees 20% or more of total wages, so one well-paid chef in a small team can breach that limit even when the headcount passes. Free zone companies may go up to 20% of headcount under Investment Law 72 of 2017.

2. The market, and a note on sources

MAFF counted about 60 Japanese restaurants in Egypt in 2025, about 10 more than 2023 (MAFF rounds to the nearest ten). MOFA recorded 757 Japanese nationals on 1 October 2025: 534 long-term stayers, 223 permanent residents. With only a few hundred Japanese residents, most Cairo restaurants will rely on one experienced chef training an Egyptian team rather than an all-Japanese kitchen. See training local staff in Japanese cuisine.

We could not access Egypt's labour ministry site during this update, or a second independent source for the rules below; they come from JETRO's page on Egyptian foreign employment rules (updated 31 October 2025), which cites the underlying decrees. JETRO notes the ministry's own online guide to the permit procedure is in Arabic only. Confirm the figures with the ministry or a Cairo lawyer before you rely on them.

3. Two permits, and fees that rise with tenure

A foreigner working in Egypt needs both a work permit (renewed yearly) and a residence permit (renewed roughly every six months). Ministerial Decree 146 of 2019 sets the conditions and procedure. Eight categories are exempt by law, including embassy staff, press correspondents, researchers and investor-residency holders; cooking is not among Egypt's prohibited occupations. A permit can be renewed a maximum of ten times per worker.

Year of the permitFee (EGP)
Year 15,000
Years 2 to 3previous fee + 1,000
Year 410,000
Years 5 to 6previous fee + 1,000
Year 715,000
Years 8 to 10previous fee + 1,000
Year 1120,000
Year 12 onwardprevious fee + 2,000, capped at 50,000

Companies exempt from the 10% rule pay a different scale: EGP 8,000 for the first permit, then plus EGP 2,000 a year, capped at EGP 50,000.

4. Pay: no official figure for Cairo

We found no official Egyptian wage survey for chefs or cooks, in Arabic or English. With no salary floor to anchor on, and the 20% wage-share test already limiting what you can pay a foreign hire in a small team, work the number from both ends:

Our sushi chef salary by country page has the official figures that exist for other markets, for comparison when a candidate is weighing Egypt against the Gulf or Asia.

5. The 2025 Labour Law, still pending

Egypt adopted a new Labour Law (Law 14 of 2025). JETRO reports it lets the competent minister reset the maximum foreign-worker proportion, the exceptions and the occupations barred to foreigners; as of our check in September 2026, the implementing ministerial rules had still not been issued, so the 10% ratio above remains the working assumption. Under the new law, employment contracts must be written in Arabic, English or the employee's native language. Check whether the new rules have appeared before you plan headcount for a hire more than a few months out.

Figures that expire: the work permit fee schedule and the ministerial rules expected under Law 14 of 2025, not yet issued when checked. The 10% ratio and 20% wage-share rule are the long-standing baseline and change only if the new law's regulations replace them. Next check: March 2027.

Questions employers ask

How many foreign chefs can our Cairo restaurant employ?

One for every ten Egyptian employees enrolled in social insurance, under the 10% rule. Register and count your Egyptian team first; the chef's application depends on that number, not the other way round.

Is there a salary cap as well as a floor for a foreign chef in Egypt?

Effectively yes. For most company forms, foreign wages cannot reach 20% of the total wage bill, so a single well-paid chef in a small team can breach that limit even when the 10% headcount rule is satisfied. Grow the wage bill or the team size together.

How much does a work permit cost in Egypt?

EGP 5,000 in year one, rising by EGP 1,000 in most later years, reaching EGP 10,000 by year four and up to EGP 50,000 by year twelve or beyond. Companies exempt from the 10% rule pay a different scale starting at EGP 8,000.

How much should we pay a Japanese chef in Cairo?

No official Egyptian figure exists. Price against what the chef earns in Japan (about ¥3.79m a year with bonus, MHLW) and check the number against your 20% wage-share ceiling as your Egyptian team grows.

Has the new 2025 Labour Law changed the 10% rule?

Not yet. Law 14 of 2025 allows the minister to reset the ratio and exceptions, but the implementing rules had not been issued when we last checked. Confirm with the Ministry of Labour before assuming the old 10% figure still applies to a hire planned well into the future.

General information, not legal or immigration advice. This article relies on JETRO's summary (updated 31 October 2025) because Egypt's labour ministry site could not be accessed in September 2026, and a second independent source could not be reached either. New rules under Law 14 of 2025 were still pending. Confirm everything with the Ministry of Labour and a local lawyer before acting.

Sources

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