Hiring in Egypt means navigating a layered statutory framework that covers social insurance, leave entitlements, end-of-service benefits, and more. This guide covers every obligation you need to meet as a foreign employer, plus what it takes to build a competitive package in the Egyptian market.
Mandatory vs optional benefits at a glance
Before diving into the detail, here is a quick map of what Egyptian law requires versus what employers typically add to attract strong candidates.
| Benefit | Status |
|---|---|
| Social insurance (NOSI) | Mandatory |
| Annual leave (21–30 days) | Mandatory |
| Sick leave (up to 12 months) | Mandatory |
| Maternity leave (120 days) | Mandatory |
| Paternity leave (1 day per child) | Mandatory |
| Hajj leave (1 month, once) | Mandatory |
| Public holidays (14 per year) | Mandatory |
| End-of-service benefit (EOSB) | Mandatory on qualifying termination |
| Transport allowance | Common, not mandatory |
| Housing allowance | Common for professional/expatriate roles |
| Enhanced private medical cover | Common, not mandatory |
| Annual airfare (expatriates) | Standard for expatriate packages |
| Education allowance | Common for employees with children |
| Mobile phone allowance | Common |
| Performance bonus | Common |
Social insurance under nosi
Egypt’s National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) is the backbone of the mandatory benefits system. Every employee must be enrolled, and both parties contribute monthly on a declared insured salary that sits between a statutory floor and ceiling.
Contribution rates
| Party | Rate | Applied to |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | 11% | Insured salary |
| Employer | 18.75% | Insured salary |
| Total | 29.75% | Insured salary |
The insured salary has a floor and a ceiling that are adjusted each year. For 2026, the minimum insured salary is EGP 2,700 per month and the maximum is EGP 16,700 per month. The ceiling rises 15% on January 1 each year through 2027, so budget accordingly when modelling multi-year headcount costs.
Special rule for managers and directors
Employees who appear on a company’s commercial register as managers or directors are treated differently. Their NOSI contribution is a flat 21% applied to the maximum insured salary ceiling, giving a fixed employer contribution of EGP 3,507 per month regardless of what they earn above the ceiling.
What nosi covers
NOSI contributions fund the following programmes:
- Old-age, disability, and survivor pension
- Health insurance (mandatory primary coverage)
- Work injury compensation
- Unemployment insurance
- End-of-service bonus accrual
Health insurance through NOSI is not an optional top-up. It is the primary mandatory health coverage for all employees. Many employers add private supplementary medical insurance on top, but the NOSI health programme comes first.
Registration deadline
You must register each employee with NOSI within 15 days of their start date. Missing that window creates backdated liability and potential penalties.
Leave entitlements under egyptian labour law
Egypt’s leave framework draws from two primary laws: Labour Law No. 12 of 2003 for annual leave rules, and Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 (effective September 1, 2025) for sick leave and maternity leave. The 2025 law made meaningful improvements to both entitlements, and employers need to be aware of the new baselines.
Annual leave
Annual leave accrual in Egypt depends on tenure and age.
| Employee profile | Annual leave entitlement |
|---|---|
| First year of service | 15 calendar days (pro-rated) |
| 1 to 10 years of service | 21 calendar days per year |
| Over 10 years of service OR age 50+ | 30 calendar days per year |
A few rules govern how leave is taken and carried over:
- Employees must take at least 6 consecutive days per year.
- Unused leave can carry over for a maximum of 2 years.
- The employer must pay out any unused balance in cash every 2 years; on termination, the full outstanding balance is paid in cash.
Emergency or accidental leave (7 days per year) is deducted from the annual leave balance, not granted on top of it.
Sick leave
Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 overhauled sick leave entitlements significantly. Under the previous law, long-term sick employees saw their pay drop quickly. The new framework is more graduated.
| Period of sick leave | Pay rate |
|---|---|
| Months 1–3 | 100% of salary |
| Months 4–9 | 85% of salary |
| Months 10–12 | 75% of salary |
The maximum entitlement is 12 months over any rolling 3-year period. A medical certificate is required throughout. This change came into force on September 1, 2025, so it applies to all qualifying sick leave taken from that date forward.
Maternity leave
Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 also extended maternity leave. Previously, eligible employees received 90 days. The current entitlement is 120 calendar days, fully paid.
Key points for employers:
- The leave can be used up to 3 times in an employee’s career (previously twice).
- At least 45 days of the leave must be taken after the birth.
- Payment comes through NOSI, not directly from the employer’s payroll.
- Nursing breaks of 2 x 30 minutes daily are available until the child reaches 24 months.
- Employees are protected from termination during pregnancy and maternity leave.
Paternity leave
Fathers are entitled to 1 paid day per child, available for up to 3 children. It is short by international comparison, but it is a statutory entitlement and must be honoured.
Hajj leave
Muslim employees who have completed 5 years of service are entitled to 1 month of fully paid leave to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. This is a once-in-a-career entitlement. The 5-year service requirement means it is not a frequent liability for most employers, but it needs to be budgeted when it arises.
Bereavement leave
Bereavement leave is not set by a specific statutory figure, but 3 days is the standard practice across Egyptian employers and what most employees will expect.
Public holidays
Egypt observes 14 public holidays per year. If you require an employee to work on a public holiday, you must pay double their normal daily rate for that day. The main holidays include:
- Labour Day (May 1)
- Liberation of Sinai (April 25)
- Revolution Day (July 23)
- National Day (October 6)
- Coptic Christmas (January 7)
- Eid al-Fitr (4 days)
- Eid al-Adha (4 days)
- Islamic New Year
- Prophet’s Birthday
The Islamic holidays follow the lunar calendar, so their Gregorian dates shift each year. Build this into your workforce planning and get calendar projections at the start of each year.
End-of-service benefits
Egypt’s end-of-service benefit (EOSB) system is termination-triggered, not accrued into a separate fund as in some Gulf countries. The amount an employee receives depends on the reason for leaving.
EOSB calculation by scenario
| Scenario | EOSB rate |
|---|---|
| Fair termination (redundancy, restructuring): first 5 years | 0.5 months’ basic salary per year of service |
| Fair termination: years beyond 5 | 1 month’s basic salary per year of service |
| Unlawful or unjust termination | Minimum 2 months’ basic salary per year of service |
| Voluntary resignation | No severance; unused annual leave paid out only |
EOSB is calculated on basic salary. Allowances, bonuses, and commissions are excluded from the calculation.
The final settlement must be paid within 15 days of the termination date. Missing that deadline can expose the employer to additional claims.
Practical implication
If you are making a redundancy, getting the classification right matters. A termination that a court later finds to be unjust immediately doubles (or more) your EOSB liability. Document the business rationale thoroughly before proceeding.
Salary structure and allowances
Egyptian employment packages are typically split across several components rather than paid as a single gross salary. Understanding this structure matters because different components receive different treatment under NOSI and tax rules.
Typical package structure
| Component | Included in insured NOSI salary? |
|---|---|
| Basic salary | Yes |
| Housing allowance | Partially (capped, see below) |
| Transport allowance | Partially (capped, see below) |
| Meal allowance | Partially (capped, see below) |
| Performance bonus | Depends on structure |
Certain allowances (including housing and meals) are excluded from the insured salary calculation, subject to a cap of 30% of total remuneration. Structuring compensation with this in mind can reduce the NOSI base, but it requires careful documentation to stay compliant.
Minimum wage
The national minimum wage is EGP 7,000 per month, effective March 2025. A further increase to EGP 8,000 per month takes effect from July 2026. If your roles sit near the minimum, you need to update offer letters and employment contracts before that date.
Income tax withholding
As the employer, you are responsible for withholding income tax from each employee’s monthly salary and remitting it to the Egyptian Tax Authority. Employees whose only source of income is employment do not need to file their own return separately. Key exempt items include EOSB payments, pension income, and certain qualifying allowances.
Common non-mandatory benefits
Statutory benefits in Egypt meet the floor, but they do not win candidates in a competitive market. The non-mandatory benefits that appear most consistently in professional-level Egyptian packages are:
- Transport allowance: Standard across most roles. Even where public transport is available, employees expect a transport contribution.
- Housing allowance or accommodation: Common for mid-to-senior roles and near-universal for expatriate hires. Cairo’s rental market has tightened, so housing support is a meaningful part of total compensation.
- Annual airfare: Standard for expatriate employees, covering one return trip to the home country per year.
- Education allowance: Offered to employees with school-age children, especially in multinational environments where children attend international schools.
- Enhanced medical coverage: NOSI health insurance provides baseline coverage. Supplementary private medical insurance covering specialists, private hospitals, and international cover is widely expected at the professional level.
- Mobile phone allowance: Provided across most knowledge-worker roles.
- Performance bonus: Common in commercial, sales, and finance roles. Structure and quantum vary widely.
When benchmarking against local competitors, enhanced medical cover and transport allowances are the two non-mandatory benefits with the highest candidate expectations. Skipping them will cost you in offer acceptance rates.
Total employment cost in egypt
To illustrate the full cost of hiring, here is a worked example using a mid-level professional on a package of EGP 15,000 per month gross.
Sample employee: egp 15,000/month gross
| Component | Monthly (EGP) |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | 15,000 |
| Employee NOSI contribution (11% of insured salary, capped at EGP 16,700) | 1,650 |
| Employer NOSI contribution (18.75% of insured salary) | 2,813 |
| Total employer cost (salary + employer NOSI) | 17,813 |
| Employee net before income tax | ~13,350 |
Note: Income tax is withheld from the employee’s net after NOSI deduction, at graduated rates. The employer’s direct cash cost is the gross salary plus the employer’s 18.75% NOSI contribution. At EGP 15,000 gross (which falls below the insured salary ceiling of EGP 16,700), the full gross salary is the NOSI base.
The employer NOSI rate adds roughly 18.75% on top of the gross salary, meaning a EGP 15,000 employee costs approximately EGP 17,813 per month before any non-mandatory benefits.
How to manage benefits without an egyptian entity
To employ staff directly in Egypt, a company needs a registered legal entity in-country. That means incorporation costs, ongoing compliance obligations, local accountants, and HR infrastructure. For companies hiring one to ten people in Egypt, that overhead often does not make sense.
An Employer of Record (EOR) is the practical alternative. The EOR holds the employment contract locally, handles NOSI registration and contributions, runs payroll, administers leave, and manages statutory benefits on your behalf. Your team member works for your company day-to-day; the legal employer relationship sits with the EOR.
This matters for Egypt specifically because the registration timelines are tight (NOSI enrolment within 15 days), the leave and severance rules carry real financial consequences if mishandled, and the 2025 labour law changes require up-to-date local expertise to implement correctly. An Employer of Record removes those risks and lets you hire in weeks rather than months.
Simplify egypt benefits administration with RemotePass
RemotePass manages Egypt payroll, NOSI registration, leave tracking, and full statutory compliance for foreign employers with no local entity required. You get compliant employment in Egypt without the overhead of setting up a legal entity. Book a RemotePass demo to see how the platform handles Egypt onboarding, benefits administration, and payroll in one place.
FAQs
Is private health insurance mandatory in Egypt? No. The mandatory primary health coverage for employees is provided through NOSI contributions. Many employers add private supplementary medical insurance as a benefit, but it is not a statutory requirement.
What changed under Labour Law No. 14 of 2025? Two significant changes: maternity leave increased from 90 to 120 calendar days and can now be taken up to 3 times in a career (previously twice). Sick leave pay was also restructured, with 100% pay for the first 3 months, tapering to 85% and then 75% for the remainder of the 12-month maximum.
How is the EOSB calculated if an employee resigns? Voluntary resignation does not trigger an EOSB payment. The employer pays out any unused annual leave balance in cash. That is the only financial obligation on resignation.
What happens if we terminate an employee and a court finds it was unjust? The EOSB liability increases to a minimum of 2 months’ basic salary per year of service, compared to the 0.5–1 month rate for fair termination. It is worth getting local legal advice before any termination to ensure the classification holds up.
Can we pay the NOSI insured salary below the minimum floor? No. The insured salary minimum is EGP 2,700 per month for 2026. Even if an employee earns less than that in net terms, NOSI contributions must be calculated on at least the minimum floor.
Do employees need to take annual leave in one block? No. The only firm rule is that at least 6 consecutive days must be taken each year. The remaining entitlement can be split across the year by agreement. Unused leave carries over for up to 2 years, after which unused balances must be paid out in cash.
What is the minimum wage in Egypt in 2026? The current minimum wage is EGP 7,000 per month, set in March 2025. A further increase to EGP 8,000 per month is scheduled for July 2026. All employment contracts must meet or exceed these figures.
