STATMENT
A group of International NGO's requested organizing a march
entitled"Gaza Freedom March" in the Gaza strip through Egypt on the
occasion of the first anniversary of the Israeli aggression on the strip
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded all the relevent
Egyptian regulations and procedures applicable to this march to the
organizers. in due course it had become apparent to the competent
Egyptian authorities that some of the organizers did not fully comply
with all requested procedures including the failure to submit required
documents. In addition, disputes and contradictios among the organizers
furthur complicated the approval process.
In light of the above, the Egyptian authorities found it difficult to
coordinate and cooperate with this march, especially given the
sensitive situation in the Gaza strip, which is still considered as a
territory under ocuupation by Israel.
In this context, the Ministry would like to emphasize that the march on
Egyptian soil, in contravention of the aforementioned decision, is
prohibited and would be considered a breach of Egyptian law.
DECEMBER 22, 2009
July
22, 2009
A visit of Viva Palastina Convoy in support of Gaza
The Egyptian national regulations of crossing
Rafah boarder require obtaining permission from the Egyptian Competent
authorities in advance.
When applying for such permission, you need to
provide full information on persons would like to cross and whatever products
or goods they would like to bring with them.
Egyptian competent authority needs these
information in full and in advance in order to evaluate the request and if
accepted to be discussed with other authorities responsible of the other side
of the boarder.
British Parliamentary, George Galawy, and his
Viva Palastina Convoy started to arrive to Egypt on July 11, 2009 without adequate
coordination with Egyptian authorities. They didn’t provide the Egyptian
competent authorities with the required information until the evening of July
14, 2009. Once they submitted the information, coordination with other parties
and issuing of the necessary permission were promptly done and the Viva
Palastina convoy was allowed to cross the boarder at 6.00am on July 15, 2009
for 24 hours. Their stay there was extended for more few days upon their
request.
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January 7, 2009
Consular High-Level Delegation
From Egypt Visitng Los Angeles
The Egyptian
Consulate-General in San Francisco has the pleasure to invite all
Egyptian/Americans to a meeting with a high-level consular delegation
from Egypt. The meeting will take place on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 from
6.00pm to 9.00pm at the Long Beach Marriott located at 4700 Airport
Plaza Drive, Long Beach, CA 90815. The visiting delegation would like
to brief the community about the current position in Egypt, Economical
situation, Costumes regulations and all subjects related to the
community interests and daily affairs. The delegation will also learn
about the community needs and recommendations beside assessing the need
to send an official delegation at a later time to the West Coast to
issue the new Egyptian National ID (Rakam Kawmy).
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December 25, 2008
New American Laws Regulating the
Travel outside the USA
Of US nationals with duel
citizenship including infants
- American laws since the beginning of 2008
prohibit any American citizen with dual citizenship from traveling abroad
unless using his US
passport.
- Newly born children in the USA automatically gain the US
citizenship by birth even if both of their parents are foreigners. They
won't be allowed to travel outside the USA
with their parents except with their US passport. The children
can't leave the USA
if only added to their parent’s non-American passports.
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November 6, 2008
School Exams at the Consulate for 2008/2009
Check
all the information you need for the year 2008/2009 school exams at the
Consulate at the link " Annual exams at the consulate for Egyptian
students abroad" at the main page of our website www.egy2000.com.
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March 28, 2007
Egyptian Minster of foreign Affairs welcomes receiving any complaints or inquiries
It
is a pleasure to the Consulate-General of Egypt in San Francisco to
inform the Egyptian Community abroad that the Department of “Egyptian
Citizens Services” at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo
welcomes receiving any inquires, demands or complaints from the
Egyptian citizens living abroad on the e.mail address:
contact.us@mfa.gov.eg .
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December 8, 2006
Receiving information in case of emergency in the USA
The
consulate would like to inform you that the Consular Corps held on
December 7, 2006 a joint meeting with the American Competent
Authorities, in order to brief and discuss with the Consular Missions
in San Francisco the preparedness, planning and procedures to aid
Foreign Nationals in the event of a natural disaster like Earthquake or
Pandemic Flu.
This meeting was the first one of
its type in a series of coming similar ones. It brainstormed the
general basic ideas about the main field actors such as Emergency
Operations Center, Fire Department, Police Department, Health
Department, Department of Post-Earthquake building Inspection, Federal
Emergency Management Agency, American Red Cross and State Department.
I would like you considering the following
steps that were suggested by the competent US federal and local
authorities during this meeting:
1.
Sign Up (for free) at the web site www.AlertSF.org. Signing up in this
site would allow you to receive alert and informative text messages on
your cell phone in case of any emergency in your area, by selecting one
or more or all Zip Codes on the web.
2.
Save the free Number 1-800-621-3362 of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). By calling this number you can apply for housing,
treatment and funeral assistance from FEMA in case of Disasters.
3.
Check the website of the American Red Cross which is www.redcross.org
to sign up for receiving information about Disasters and to learn about
the services the Red Cross provides in Emergency Cases and how to
contact its nearest field officers in the area you live in.
4.
Check the websites of the Public Health & EMS Agency which are
www.sanfranciscoems.org and www.sfcdcp.org to learn about the services
of the Public Health Sector in case of Emergencies.
You
don’t need to panic or worry about this message, it is only a regular
normal precautions needed to be taken in mind, Nothing less Nothing
More.
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March 12, 2007
Military Exemption Certificates comes with Photo
The
Consulate General of the Arab Republic of Egypt in San Francisco
presents its complements to all Egyptians in the West Coast and would
like to bring to their attention that the Egyptian Military Authorities
has decided that all the Military Exemption Certificates will be issued
with a photo.
Applicants should send a colored photo 4x6 Cm with a white background with their documents.
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April 2007
Facilitation of issuing travel license for Egyptians Studying abroad
Ministry
of Defense in Egypt has facilitated the procedures of issuing travel
license for Egyptians studying abroad whose obligatory military service
has been postponed due to their student status. Such students who visit
Egypt during their academic holidays, can obtain the travel license,
which allows them to return to the country of their studying, the same
day they apply for it from any of the military service offices in
Egypt, which work under the Ministry of Defense. These offices work 24
hours 7 days a week, even during official national holidays. The
student who applies at the military service offices to obtain the
travel license has to provide a letter from the Department of
Educational Missions Abroad, which belong to the Ministry of Higher
Education, stating that he is put under scientific supervision of this
department.
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Procedures of renewing residency visas in the USA
The
Consulate General of the Arab Republic of Egypt in San Francisco
presents its complements to all Egyptians in the West Coast and would
like to bring to their attention the following:
The US embassy in Cairo and the department of the Homeland Security
informed us that effective January 1 ,2005 The Revalidation Division
has discontinued its domestic visa revalidation (or reissuance )
service for E,H,I,L,O and P visas.
Applicants must now apply abroad for renewals or revalidations of
E,H,I,L,O,P, visas. The Department of Homeland Security encourage all
applicants to apply for new visas in their home countries. If they are
not traveling to their home countries , they may apply at a U.S.
embassy or Consulate in a third country provided they have made a visa
interview appointment. They should understand that if there is a delay
in visa issuance, they may need to spend more time overseas than they
originally planned.
For more details please visit the Web site of the US embassy in cairo:
http://www.state.gov/visa/temp/types_1280.html
Or the Web site of the Department of Homeland Security:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/citizenship/imm_guide.htm
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The New Egyptian Tax Law
Egypt’s new tax law aims, above all, to create mutual trust between
citizens and the taxman.
Hitherto, Egypt’s taxation system was seen as haphazard, unfair and
oppressive. Today, the new tax law 91 of 2005, which replaces Law
20 of 1981, was designed to redefine the relationship between citizens
and the Tax Authority, cultivate a climate of mutual trust, and seek to
make taxes less burdensome.
The idea behind the promulgation of a new law was not just to change
certain aspects of the law, but change the thought process based on the
modern notion of self-assessment as opposed to administrative
approximated assessment, which is what the tax system in Egypt was
based on since 1939.
The new law reduces personal income tax rates; it reduces dramatically
corporate taxes, previously set at 42 percent, to a flat 20-percent
rate.
Under the previous law, new investors were offered tax holidays of up
to 10 years. The new law offers no breaks. Contrary to the
belief of some that offering no breaks could discourage foreign direct
investment (FDI), it is strongly believed that investors don’t come to
a country because of tax breaks. But they do select to invest in
one country as opposed to another because of the tax rate.
The 180-degree turn brings Egypt’s tax system in line with those of
developed countries. However, the challenges of implementing the
law will require changing people’s perceptions and attitudes towards
taxation in order for every citizen to get his or her money’s worth in
public services.
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Talking Points
On the New Law on the protection of competition and
The Prohibition of monopolistic Practices
-Egypt’s
current economic performance is exceeding all expectations according to
a number of international financial institutions. Real GDP is
growing and foreign reserves in the Central Bank of Egypt are
increasing. These reforms are raising confidence levels in Egypt
as a place for investment.
-Such successes are due to a number
of financial and economic reforms undertaken by the Egyptian
government, notably the reforms of taxes, and the customs system.
These reforms are focusing mainly on streamlining regulations and
increasing transparency.
-In the same vein, the Egyptian
government had adopted a new law on the protection of competition and
the prevention of monopolistic practices; and in February 2004, an
Anti-Trust and Competition Protection Commission (ACPC), was
created. The ACPC, which will be affiliated to the cabinet, will
have judicial powers to closely monitor the effect of any monopolistic
deals on the local market, and take abusers to court.
-The
25-article law on competition features a number of articles aimed at
tightening control on monopolistic practices that could negatively
affect free competition on the local market, and seriously reduce
Egypt’s export volume.
-The new Competition law aims at
enhancing competitive conditions in the economy in order to improve
efficiency and productivity, thus providing a stronger basis than
currently prevailing for sustained growth in output and employment.
-Aware
that competition is essential for achieving efficient outcomes and for
stimulating growth, the new Competition law seeks to promote
competitive structures and behavior, and to prevent, anticompetitive or
restrictive practices. Its ultimate objective is consumer welfare
that is served by lower prices, better quality products and,
eventually, by a more efficient and dynamic economy.
-We believe
that economic growth and development are associated with structural
change, and increased competition is a device to induce needed
structural change. Moreover, competition, and investment, can be
more effectively promoted indirectly through the establishment of clear
and business-friendly rules of the game through the introduction and
implementation of relevant laws, such as a Competition Law.
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Price of International calls between Egypt and the USA
The
Consulate General of the Arab Republic of Egypt in San Francisco
presents its complements to all Egyptians in the West Coast and would
like to bring to their attention that The National Communication
Authority is Studying the possibility of giving licenses to other
communication companies to provide the international calls service,
other than Egypt Tele Communication Company, which would help reducing
the price per minute for the international calls between Egypt and the
USA.
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