Jobs in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf from Egypt: contract attestation, licensed recruitment companies, the 1% fee cap and where to get help

Who does what: the ministry, the companies and the labour offices

Egypt's rules for working abroad sit in Labour Law No. 14 of 2025, published in the Official Gazette on 3 May 2025; it took effect on the first day of the month after 90 days from publication, and it repealed Labour Law No. 12 of 2003; ministerial decrees issued under the old law stay in force until new ones replace them, where they do not conflict with the new law [1]. Chapter Two of Book Two, on employment at home and abroad, says that placing Egyptians in jobs abroad may only be done by the Ministry of Labour, by ministries and public bodies for their own staff, by Egyptian companies for their own workers under contracts they sign with foreign parties, or by private employment agencies that take a company form and hold a licence from the ministry [1]. Inside the ministry, the General Department of External Employment attests individual work contracts, and a separate General Department licenses and follows up the recruitment companies [2], [7]. The law also asks the ministry to follow up the agreements and contracts covering Egyptian workers abroad and to look into settling disputes that arise from them [1]. Abroad, the ministry has labour representation offices attached to Egyptian embassies and consulates [3], [11]. In October 2026 the minister launched a standard procedures guide for employment abroad, prepared with the International Labour Organization and the European Union, and the ministry has set up a pre-departure orientation unit that explains to workers the requirements of working abroad and their rights and duties [6].

• Ministry of Labour head office: 3 Youssef Abbas Street, Nasr City, Cairo; PO Box 25815 [3].
• Ministry hotline: 19468 [4].
• Every governorate has a labour directorate with employment offices; the ministry's contact page lists them with addresses and phone numbers [3].

Getting your work contract attested, step by step

The ministry's service for attesting individual contracts is for citizens travelling abroad who hold a work contract that needs to be certified so they can finish their travel procedures [2]. It is provided at the General Department of External Employment at the ministry's head office [2]. The ministry also runs an online form, still marked as a trial, to book an appointment for attesting a work contract abroad; it covers Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain among many other countries [4]. On the form you choose the country and a day, enter your national ID number, name, phone and WhatsApp numbers, education, the job in the contract, your passport number and its expiry date, and upload a PDF file [4]. If a licensed company recruited you, the law adds a check of its own: within five working days the company must send the ministry an authenticated copy of the job request it received from abroad and copies of the agreements and contracts, showing the job, the wage and the conditions, and the ministry has 15 days to object if the wage is not suitable [1].

• Documents the ministry lists: the original contract and a copy, a copy of your passport if you have one, a copy of your national ID card, a copy of the visa if you already have it, and, for women, a declaration of consent to travel from the husband, father, mother or brother [2].
• Reasons you can choose when booking: first travel, renewing a leave (returning to the same job), approval of a contract for a UAE visa, review of women's residence permits for work permits, and changing the profession recorded on the national ID [4].
• You can also send an online enquiry about a contract abroad from the ministry's services page, giving your name, national ID number, the country and the job title [2].
• The ministry also posts its own job offers abroad, with online registration pages; on 20 October 2026 its links page had registration pages for jobs in the UAE and Jordan [5].

Check the recruitment company yourself

Under the law a private employment agency needs a ministry licence, and to get one it must meet strict conditions: its founders and managers must not have been convicted of a felony or of an offence involving dishonesty or public morals, a company recruiting for jobs abroad must have at least EGP 500,000 in capital with Egyptians holding at least 51%, and it must lodge a guarantee of at least EGP 1 million with the ministry, in cash or as a bank letter of guarantee, which is used to pay fines, compensation or money the company took unlawfully [1]. The licence is valid for one year and can be renewed [1]. The minister can cancel it if the company loses a condition, gave false information, works outside its licensed office, sends a worker without a written contract approved by the authorities, fails to keep records, advertises jobs that do not exist, or takes money from a worker against the law, and can suspend a company while a case is checked [1]. The ministry does use these powers: on 5 November 2025 it announced that it had suspended or closed ten recruitment companies for breaking the law, naming each one with its licence number [9].

• Ask the company for its ministry licence number and check it with the ministry before you pay anything or hand over your passport [2], [8].
• The ministry says it licenses recruitment companies through its General Department for recruitment companies, urges citizens not to deal with any unlicensed company, and keeps a database of licensed companies [2].
• To check a licence in person, the ministry tells you to go to the General Department for recruitment companies at its old head office in Nasr City, or to your governorate's labour directorate [8].
• A company or person recruiting through a website, page or online platform needs a separate ministry licence, unless it is already a licensed recruitment company [1].
• Job advertisements must be notified to the ministry by the employer or the agency [1].

Fees: the 1% rule

Article 43 of the Labour Law is short and clear. No one allowed to recruit, including a licensed company, may take any money from a worker, directly or indirectly, for placing them in a job; they may charge the employer instead [1]. The one exception is that a licensed private employment agency may take an amount of no more than 1% of the worker's wage, for the first year only, as administrative expenses, and it is banned from taking any other money from the worker under any name [1]. Taking money unlawfully from a worker's wage or entitlements, at home or abroad, is a crime under Article 291: the penalty is prison, a fine of EGP 20,000 to EGP 100,000, or both, the court orders the money refunded, and it may close the premises [1]. The same article punishes anyone who recruits without a licence, or with a licence obtained with false information, and closure is then compulsory [1]. Jobs abroad that the ministry offers itself cost nothing: the ministry says it charges no fee to apply and works with no middlemen [8], [10].

• Work out 1% of your first year's wage from your contract before you pay; that is the legal ceiling, not a fixed price [1].
• Ask for a receipt for any money you pay: the law requires companies to keep records of the amounts they collect from workers [1].
• Calling a charge a visa, ticket, file or service fee does not change the rule: the law bans any other charge to the worker under any name [1].
• Gulf law points the same way: the UAE says the employer pays recruitment costs, Article 40 of Saudi Arabia's Labor Law puts recruitment, iqama and work permit fees on the employer, and Qatar bars licensed recruiters from charging workers [15], [16], [17].

Extra points for women and for domestic work

Women face one extra step in Egypt: the ministry's contract attestation service asks women for a declaration of consent to travel from the husband, father, mother or brother [2]. The appointment form also has a separate reason for reviewing women's residence permits for work permits [4]. For domestic work, Egypt's Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 does not apply to domestic workers [1], and we did not find a separate Egyptian rule for domestic jobs in the Gulf on the pages we could open. In practice that makes the host country's rules and channels more important. In Saudi Arabia domestic workers file labour complaints through the Musaned platform [21]. Kuwait's Public Authority for Manpower says it runs shelters for migrant workers [28]. In Bahrain, the LMRA hotline 995 takes reports of exploitation and trafficking [30].

• Keep copies of your attested contract and your passport with your family, not only with the employer or the agent.
• Save the phone number and email of the Egyptian labour office in the country you go to before you travel; the list is further down this page [3].

Social insurance while you work abroad

Social Insurance and Pensions Law No. 148 of 2019, which the Ministry of Labour publishes on its website, names Egyptians working abroad as one of the groups it covers [14]. Article 2 lists them as workers abroad on personal employment contracts, Egyptians working abroad on their own account, emigrants from these groups who keep Egyptian nationality, and seafarers on ships flying a foreign flag while their seaman's passport is valid [14]. To be covered this way you must be at least 18 and not already covered as an employee or employer in Egypt [14]. The contribution is based on an income the insured person chooses within the minimum and maximum set by the law's regulations [14].

• Ask the National Organization for Social Insurance how to register as an Egyptian working abroad and what you will pay before you travel; the ministry's site links to its insurance number enquiry service [2], [14].
• We did not find, on the official sites we could open, a free accident or death insurance for Egyptian migrant workers like the ones some other countries give; check with the ministry before you rely on any such cover.

Warning signs of a fake job abroad

In June 2026 the ministry warned again about fake job ads abroad, saying that some individuals, pages and unlicensed companies exploit young people's wish to work abroad by asking for money to finish job or travel procedures [8]. In September 2025 it denied ads for gym trainer jobs at a UAE company that asked for high fees: its labour office in Abu Dhabi contacted the company, which said the ads were fake [10]. These signs come from the law and from the ministry's warnings. One alone does not prove fraud, but each is a reason to stop and check with the ministry before you pay or travel.

• The company cannot show a ministry licence, or the ministry cannot confirm it [2], [8].
• You are asked to pay more than 1% of your first year's wage, or to pay under names such as a file or visa fee [1].
• The offer claims to be a ministry job but asks for a fee or comes through a middleman; the ministry's own offers are free and posted on its official page [8], [10].
• A social media page claims to run the ministry's agreements with other countries; the ministry says it deals with no middlemen for these [8].
• Nobody gives you a written contract, or you are told the contract does not need to be attested [1], [2].
• For the UAE: there is no offer letter issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation that you can check by its reference number, or you are told to come on a visit or tourist visa, which does not allow you to work [15].

Where to complain in Egypt

Start with the ministry's hotline 19468 [4]. You can also go to the General Department of External Employment at the ministry's head office in Nasr City, or to the labour directorate of your governorate [3], [8]. Complaints against recruitment companies are decided by a committee inside the ministry, set up by ministerial decree in 2008, that brings together the departments for external employment, labour inspection, legal affairs and company licensing, a representative of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce and a representative of the police department that investigates crimes against public funds [13]. If a company took money from you against the law, the Labour Law makes this a crime, the court orders the money refunded, and the company's guarantee at the ministry can be used for money it took unlawfully [1]. The ministry's website also links to the government's unified complaints portal [2].

• Hotline: 19468 (from abroad +202 19468, as the ministry writes it) [4].
• In person: 3 Youssef Abbas Street, Nasr City, Cairo [3], [8].
• Report a fake job ad or page to the ministry; it says it acts against them with the security bodies [8], [10].
• Keep your contract, receipts, chats and the ad itself: they are your evidence.

Egyptian labour offices in the Gulf

The ministry lists labour representation offices, run by labour attachés, at Egyptian missions in four Gulf countries [3]. They follow the situation of Egyptian workers together with the embassies and consulates [11]. The Riyadh office says it explains workers' rights and duties under Saudi labour law and has launched a mobile app to give Egyptians technical and legal support [12]. These are the contacts the ministry published on 20 October 2026 [3].

• Saudi Arabia, Riyadh: Abdullah bin Huthafa Al-Sahmi Street, Diplomatic Quarter; +966 54 319 1870; Riyadh_Labour20@Yahoo.com [3].
• Saudi Arabia, Jeddah: at the Egyptian Consulate General, Mohammed Iqbal Street, Al-Rawdah 2; +966 55 698 4079; labour.office.jeddah@gmail.com [3].
• UAE, Abu Dhabi: Egyptian Embassy building, 77 Embassies Street; +971 50 674 9294; laborofficeuae@gmail.com [3].
• Qatar, Doha: at the Egyptian Embassy, Al Dafna; +974 7195 5263; qateroffice@Yahoo.com [3].
• Kuwait: Al-Salam area, Block 5; KuwaitLabrep4@Gmail.com [3].
• Oman and Bahrain: the ministry's list has no labour office there, so contact the Egyptian embassy [3].
• Our scam alerts for each Gulf country and our CV format guides for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain are linked below, as are the guides for Sri Lankan, Nepali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian and Filipino workers.

You can also complain in the country where you work

Egypt's offices are not the only place to complain. If an employer in the Gulf does not pay you, changes your contract, keeps your passport or makes you pay for your job, you can file a complaint with the labour ministry of the country where you work, even as a foreign worker, and you can report fraud or threats to that country's police. Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain list their labour complaint services as free on their official pages [20], [26], [29]. These channels are used: Qatar's Ministry of Labour registered 5,369 worker complaints against companies in the first quarter of 2026 [24]. Before you file, gather copies of your passport and visa or work permit, the contract attested in Egypt and any contract you were given on arrival, payslips or bank statements, receipts for any fees you paid, and your chats and call logs with the employer or recruiter. Watch the time limits: Saudi Arabia's settlement service asks for the complaint within 12 months [20]. The Egyptian labour office can help you prepare and follow up the complaint, but the decision is made by the host country's authorities, and you can use both at the same time.

• UAE: the MOHRE app or website, or the Labour Claims and Advisory Centre on toll-free 80084. MOHRE also takes reports of forced labour and human trafficking [18], [19].
• Saudi Arabia: HRSD's amicable settlement service, through Qiwa, the HRSD website or the unified number 19911; domestic workers file through Musaned [20], [21].
• Qatar: the Ministry of Labour's Unified Complaints and Disputes Platform, which also takes complaints against registered recruitment agencies, or info@mol.gov.qa; 16505 for fraud or requests for unofficial payments [22], [23], [25].
• Oman: the Ministry of Labour's free labour complaints e-service, which also allows a group complaint, or its call centre 80077000 [26].
• Kuwait: the Public Authority for Manpower, through the Labour Relations unit that holds the company's file or the As'hal Manpower service; violations can be reported confidentially through Report Me in the Sahel app, and the authority runs shelters for migrant workers [27], [28].
• Bahrain: the Ministry of Labour's complaints service in person, on 17873637 or 17873919, or online, for workers with a valid work permit; for exploitation or trafficking, the LMRA hotline 995 [29], [30].

What we could not confirm

We only use sources we could open. The Ministry of Labour's website (labour.gov.eg; the old manpower.gov.eg address now leads there), its online forms and the PDFs of the Labour Law and the Social Insurance Law it hosts all opened for us. The website of the former Ministry of Emigration (emigration.gov.eg) did not open because its security certificate expired in May 2025, and the government's unified complaints portal did not present a certificate we could verify, so we do not describe their services. The ministry's link to its database of licensed recruitment companies returned an error page on 20 October 2026, so we tell you to check a company with the ministry directly. The ministry's services page says company licences are renewed every five years, while the 2025 law says a licence lasts one year; we follow the law. The ministry's list gives a Kuwait phone number that looks incomplete, so we print only the email address. We did not find the text of the new standard procedures guide, the ministerial decrees under the 2025 law, social insurance contribution amounts for workers abroad, an official insurance scheme for migrant workers, or official wage tables for Egyptian workers in the Gulf, so we print none of these. For the host-country channels we used the UAE government portal, HRSD's service page and the Oman and Bahrain labour ministry websites; for Qatar's Ministry of Labour, Kuwait's Public Authority for Manpower and Bahrain's LMRA we relied on an ILO leaflet and on newspaper reports that quote those bodies.