Report: Relinquishing the Egyptian passport

Egyptians' sense of belonging to the homeland has changed. When people were once proud of their Egyptian citizenship, now Egyptians are racing to apply for the American immigration lottery.

 

According to unofficial reports and statistics starting from 26 January 2011, the day following the revolution, until 25 January 2014, half a million Egyptians have applied for Egypt's quota of 3,500 American immigration visas out of a possible 50,000 visas for various countries around the world.

 

Another phenomenon that has emerged is the relinquishing the Egyptian citizenship to get out of prison, as Al Jazeera news correspondent Mohamed Fahmy did. He was one of three defendants in the case known as “The Marriott Cell”. He gave up his citizenship after his colleague, Australian Peter Greste, was released and deported for being a foreigner. This prompted the wife of the third defendant, Baher Mohamed, to tell the French AFP news agency before he was released pending trial that she wished she could obtain a foreign citizenship for him to get out of prison, as well as citizenship for their children so they could find an embassy of a foreign country to defend them if they are ever imprisoned in the future.

 

At the time of the 25 January revolution, news spread about thousands of Egyptian Copts who were relinquishing their citizenship and migrating to other countries, especially during the year in which the Muslim Brotherhood ruled the country. There was also news about thousands of Palestinians who obtained Egyptian citizenship during that year. Many allege the Palestinians were mostly from Hamas, the Brotherhood branch in Gaza.

 

This change in the relationship between Egyptians and their passports prompted Al-Masry Al-Youm to investigate this issue. We have monitored 1,044 editions of the Official Gazette that publishes decrees by the President and the Prime Minister pertaining to the granting or withdrawal of citizenships, and 1,981 editions that published decrees by the Interior Minister in this regard, bringing the total to 3,025 monitored editions. It took us six months to arrive at the following results.

 

 

Six interior ministers had during that period issued 136 decrees authorizing 2,865 Egyptians, including 427 non-Muslims (identified by their names because their religions were not stated, while names that did not clearly indicate religion were counted as Muslims) to obtain foreign nationalities from 58 countries, including 14 Arab countries, and relinquish their citizenship because 18 of these countries do not allow dual citizenship. As to the other countries that allow dual citizenship, 424 Egyptians obtained their citizenships and still relinquished the Egyptian nationality.

 

 

The same six ministers issued 196 decrees authorizing 3,951 Egyptians, including 563 non-Muslims, to obtain foreign nationalities from 79 countries, including 14 Arab countries and keep the Egyptian nationality.

 

 

Mohamed Mahmoud al-Hariri obtained the Austrian nationality and relinquished his Egyptian citizenship. He was a lawyer in Egypt and traveled in August 1992 to look for a better life. He now works in journalism and has a website called The Egyptian-European Television. He said that he will not grant his children the Egyptian nationality and will not retrieve his.

 

 

Wael Adib said that he was born in Cairo on 22 April 1976 to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. He obtained the Egyptian citizenship on 23 August 2011. “My wife’s family had first rejected our marriage because I was Palestinian,” he said.

 

 

Amr Abdel Hamid, presenter for the program Al-Hayat Al-Youm on the satellite channel Al-Hayat, said he obtained Russian citizenship from his Russian wife. “As a Russian I can travel easily to the countries of the former Soviet Union,” he said. “My friends ask me to run for parliament, but I refuse to waive my Russian citizenship.”

 

 

Hala al-Hawary, Chairman of the Arab-European Center for Consulting, makes an effort to convince Egyptians who have waived their citizenships to retain them. She is also trying to convince German authorities to allow dual citizenship. She said Egyptians who have waived their citizenship never visit Egypt.

 

 

Four ministers have cancelled eight citizenship rejections for four Palestinians, three Syrians and two Jordanians.

 

 

Citizenship rejections are based on Article 3 of the Nationality Law on granting the nationality from the mother and Article 7 on granting it from the husband, the two most notorious articles for Palestinians.

 

 

The first decree to grant back the Egyptian nationality was issued by the first interior minister after the revolution, Mahmoud Wagdy, on 21 February 2011. There were 481 Egyptians who were thereafter granted their citizenship back after relinquishing it to obtain another country’s.

 

 

The Administrative Court received many claims to revoke the citizenship of officials and media personalities allegedly connected with the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as others who obtained it under the Brotherhood. Also, demonstrations, television programs and letters to the President demanded the same.

 

 

The first law on the Egyptian nationality was issued in 1956 and was amended in 1975. It defined Egyptians as all those who resided in Egypt before 5 November 1914, the termination date of Egypt being a British protectorate, excluding foreigners and Zionists.