# Jobs in cairo



## Amin11 (Feb 7, 2012)

Hi I'm a qualified account from the UK and I'd like to move to Cairo. Are there jobs in accountancy or is it better just to do a celts course and teach English??? Any advise will be appreciated.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Hello and welcome

Unemployment is very high in Egypt with jobs rightly favouring Egyptian..
Do you speak/read Arabic? This would be a huge plus.
You will not earn anything like the money you are earning in the UK unless you have an expat package.
You need a work visa to be employed here.
I wonder why you want to come out here? Please read the threads on how life is... 

Maiden


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

Really, don't come. I have traveled to many places, lived in many places and countries... I have even lived in gang central, Inglewood California, where walking down the street used to be unsafe and where babies would be shot at in the heads. Egypt really takes the biscuit. If I was in your shoes, considering coming here and knowing my experiences here, I would take Inglewood California anytime. Stay where you are, seriously, its for your own good. Life is not good here. Sorry. Its my opinion.


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## expatagogo (May 31, 2010)

Amin11 said:


> Hi I'm a qualified account from the UK and I'd like to move to Cairo. Are there jobs in accountancy or is it better just to do a celts course and teach English??? Any advise will be appreciated.


Lots of unemployed Accountants in Egypt, and hiring preference (rightly) goes to Egyptians. Also, lots of unemployed Egyptians that are quite capable of teaching English, and, again, hiring preference (rightly) goes to Egyptians. It's quite likely you would have a difficult time obtaining a proper work permit.

Have a close look at the NGO flap in the news and you'll see that operating a business without proper permits and working in a business without a proper permit carries hefty penalties.

ETA: http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/hu...-ngos-were-lawfully-inspected-not-raided.html

"Workers inside these NGOs deliberately had tourist visas, not work visas, and did not pay taxes..."


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## Amin11 (Feb 7, 2012)

Hi guys - thank you all for your advise. Are there any agencies or places to go to find work? 

I m conversational in Arabic and can read and write at that level too. My main purpose of wanting to move to Cairo is to continue studying Arabic and to enrol my daughter in a school there do she too can study Arabic and Islamic sciences.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Amin11 said:


> Hi guys - thank you all for your advise. Are there any agencies or places to go to find work?
> 
> I m conversational in Arabic and can read and write at that level too. My main purpose of wanting to move to Cairo is to continue studying Arabic and to enrol my daughter in a school there do she too can study Arabic and Islamic sciences.




We cannot tell you the name of agencies I am afraid you will just have to google ad find them.. 

On another note ArabianKinghts is here studying Arabic.. read her posts.

Can you afford to send your daughter to a private school here? School fees are very high.. 

Plus of course this country is very much up and down.. only yesterday I saw about 100 people going to try and buy gas.. I was without it for two days.
Not the best time to come,


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## Whitedesert (Oct 9, 2011)

If you are an Egyptian citizen, or ex. Egyptian citizen, you could approach employment agencies, if not, not advised. Accounting is not in high demand, we have a long list waiting for anybody in our financial department to resign. Teaching may be an option, except that for some odd reason many European and American young people seem to be standing in the queue to fill those postions as well, and most fully qualified and registered in one or other of the international standards required for most of the international schools in Cairo. For the international schools that dont require these qualifications salaries would be dismal, and afford a lifestyle that you may not be comfortable with.


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## CatMandoo (Dec 16, 2011)

Egypt is not a stable country at this time. I would wait at least a year, and then see how things are here, especially since there is a child involved.


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## expatagogo (May 31, 2010)

CatMandoo said:


> Egypt is not a stable country at this time. I would wait at least a year, and then see how things are here, especially since there is a child involved.


I'm inclined to agree, particularly since I was out this morning and saw troops being trucked in to try and keep the peace tomorrow as Egyptians are calling for a general strike and there's no telling what will happen.

Hope everyone has stocked up on supplies, just in case!


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

Amin11 said:


> Hi guys - thank you all for your advise. Are there any agencies or places to go to find work?
> 
> I m conversational in Arabic and can read and write at that level too. My main purpose of wanting to move to Cairo is to continue studying Arabic and to enrol my daughter in a school there do she too can study Arabic and Islamic sciences.


I am here studying Arabic, but from what you are saying, it seems like your daughter is quite young. I am at a University, here in Alexandria studying Arabic on a one year program. I don't know whether you want your daughter to learn the Egyptian dialect, or the FusHa Arabic, I am assuming its FusHa you want her to learn as this is what most people learn in schools.

Apart from what is being said here and apart from not coming here, due to the political situation, I would like to advise you about learning FusHa in Egypt, from my experience. I also know many others who feel the same, so its not just my view. If you would like your daughter to learn FusHa/Proper Arabic and not the Egyptian dialect, I STRONGLY advise you NOT to come here. I would say go to Syria. Of course that is not an option now, due to revolution. In this case, I would recommend Jordan. The reasons for this are:


People have the incorrect presumption that Egyptian Arabic is the closest to FusHa. It is not. I would even go so far as to say that it is COMPLETELY different language.

Egyptian teachers are not the best teachers to learn from. They always slip into dialect pronunciation. For example, in dialect, they say geem instead of jeem - and they keep that when speaking in FusHa. Its highly annoying.

They slip into dialect randomly at any given point. I have had quite a few different Egyptian teachers both in Cairo and in Alexandria, and they all do it. One Egyptian teacher I had in the UK kept saying 'mashi, mashi', along with lots of other nice dialect words he wasn't allowed to use! He didn't last - I think he lost his job. Another Egyptian lecturer in the UK never did it, but that's in the UK, where the language department is quite strict on these things and they need to keep certain standards. Here in Egypt, you do not have that assurance.

My year here in Egypt (thankfully) is nearly over. I can be sure to say to you, that my speaking is a blend of Egyptian colloquial and FusHa. I do not even know the difference anymore.... most of the time, I do not know whether I am saying FusHa words or Egyptian. If I get strange looks from Egyptians in the street, when I am talking to them - it means I am using proper Arabic  however, I speak a lot of dialect now, and I don't think my University back home will be happy about it. This is what will happen, when your daughter learns FusHa Arabic here in Egypt.

If you really need to focus on FusHa, I suggest getting a Quranic Arabic teacher... I have heard they are better in terms of keeping to the correct pronunciation and will not venture into dialect (mainly because they cannot 'mess' with the words of the Quran!) however, I do not have experience of using a religious Arabic teacher in Egypt. Mine was in the UK and originally from Bangladesh and his pronunciation was totally screwed up LOL. I didn't know this, until I actually started learning Arabic, and until then, I have been saying the Quran incorrectly, which is considered a sin! But considering Egyptians are supposed Arabs, they know the correct pronunciation and would take care.

The Levantine dialect is the closest to FusHa Arabic - especially the Palestinian dialect. The Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian are also similar to each other and they have a wide vocabulary range which is very similar to the FusHa Arabic. Unlike the Egyptian Arabic. This is why I recommend going to one of these places (although Lebanon has too many French words for my liking, and even in Egypt, they are starting to pick up the 'Merci' from Lebanon)

Finally, it depends what your daughter will do with her Arabic. Egypt was always recommended, because their dialect was culturally significant. Since Cairo was always considered the 'Hollywood' of the Arab world rolleyes Egyptian movies, music and media etc consequently gave exposure to the Egyptian dialect around the whole of the Arab world and as a result, the Egyptian dialect is the most understood and the most made fun of (they have some funny sounding words, like awy, awy, awy, awy and awy! ). Egyptian dialect is still dominant in the Arab world today and in the media, and even Lebanese singers sing in Egyptian dialect today, but it is slowly being taken over by Lebanese and their nice soft French-y pouty dialect. Also, the Egyptian commercial market is huge in the Arab world. 

So, if she is learning only for Islamic purposes, then I suggest you get a Quranic teacher who can also teach her regular FusHa, here in Egypt OR if she wants to use Arabic for daily life stuff and to communicate with all Arabs around the world, then I would suggest her to learn the Egyptian Dialect. Just don't come here for FusHa. You'll be disappointed. 

I hope this helps you make an informed decision.


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## CatMandoo (Dec 16, 2011)

This is an excellent post regarding leaning arabic here.You should ask Maiden to Sticky it. Great job!


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

CatMandoo said:


> This is an excellent post regarding leaning arabic here.You should ask Maiden to Sticky it. Great job!


Thank you! I am sure she'll see this and I don't mind it being a sticky, if it means helping others/people in the future considering coming here to learn Arabic


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