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Egypt :: Immigration Issues   ::   Print this Article
Egypt has a Problem with Illegal Immigration
02-25-2009 12:12 am - Amira Salah-Ahmed - Egypt Today
Not too long ago, the nation’s belly dancers were in an uproar: Foreigners were entering the field, they complained, taking jobs away from home-grown professionals and changing the image of what used to be an Oriental art.

Celebrity belly dancers including Fifi Abdou rallied and, in 2003, the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration banned non-Egyptians from obtaining belly dancing licenses. That ban was reversed a year later, however, and now shows headlining Russian dancers attract locals and tourists alike.

For Egyptian tourist guides, it’s déjà vu all over again. Enraged guides are taking a stand against what they call illegal guiding, which mostly takes the form of unlicensed foreigners accompanying tour groups in the country. Local professionals claim the phenomenon threatens not just the economy, but the nation’s heritage and even national security.

Egyptologist Aladdin Khalifa is an executive member of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) and its official representative for Africa. The WFTGA is a non-profit, non-political organization, composed of national tourist guide associations, individual guides, educational institutions and convention and visitor’s bureaus.

According to Khalifa, a tourist guide for more than 15 years, illegal guiding is at the top of the WFTGA’s agenda, as members believe it brings down the overall standards of the profession.

Khalifa says that the problem in Egypt first developed in the early 1990s as Red Sea resort towns became popular with Eastern European tourists. Because they spoke languages in which Egyptian guides were not specialized, a tour leader would accompany each group to translate. Some of these tour leaders settled in the country and started working as independent guides.

“[The foreign expatriate] would hire a licensed Egyptian guide to accompany them on the tour and even give them a salary,” Khalifa charges. “But the guide was just for show, what we call a silent guide, which is something hated in the business today.”

The ‘silent guide’ was necessary because Egyptian law prohibits anyone from guiding unless they have a license from the Ministry of Tourism.

Mohamed Ghareeb, president of both the Egyptian General Tourist Guide Syndicate (EGTGS) and the Arab Tourist Guides Union, explains that Law 21 of 1983 gives the Ministry of Tourism the authority to regulate the profession. EGTGS was created shortly afterwards as the ministry’s licensing body for would-be guides.

Becoming a tourist guide is no easy task.

“You have to go to the ministry to get licensed, to renew your license, to receive training,” Ghareeb says, adding that candidates are subjected to the same scrutiny as people joining the armed forces or the police force, with rigorous training, extensive background checks and a physical examination.

“The 10,000 registered tourist guides in the syndicate are highly qualified,” explains Ghareeb. “According to the law [No. 21 of 1983], a tourist guide [operating in Egypt] must be an Egyptian citizen, and travel agencies are not allowed to deal with anyone who is not registered.”

When the local supply of tourist guides began to catch up with demand for foreign languages, the syndicate complained to the Ministry of Tourism about unlicensed foreigners. Khalifa says that rather than enforce the existing law, the Ministry of Tourism opted to oversee foreign guides by issuing translation permits.

“We do not license foreign tourist guides, rather we give translation permits through a licensed Egyptian tourist guide,” says Talaat Mahmoud Amer, general director of the Tourist Guide Administration at the Ministry of Tourism. “This is a temporary permit valid for a limited time and in specified sites. It is for rare languages — ones that not enough Egyptian tourist guides specialize in — until we find a solution and until there are enough guides in these rare languages to accommodate the incoming tour groups.

“Take Korean, for example. There are only about three Egyptian tourist guides that can speak Korean. At the same time, there are a lot of Korean tour groups coming to Egypt, so what is the solution? Should we let them work on their own? It is better for them to work under our supervision through this translation permit, which is through an Egyptian guide that accompanies the group and talks about the site in English. Then the Korean tour leader translates from the English to the group.”

While Korean may still be under-served, Khalifa notes that Egyptian guides have become proficient in other once-rare languages. There are 150 Russian-speaking guides — enough, he notes, to cover the whole market. Japanese used to be a problem, but today there are 250 Japanese-speaking guides. And yet the foreign tour leaders keep operating.

“Japanese tour companies still insist on sending a tour leader with the group because they claim that Egyptian tour guides are not perfect in Japanese,” Khalifa says.

Amer is unimpressed with the argument. “If the guide accepts to be a silent guide, that is his problem. The Ministry of Tourism sends him so he can explain and the tour leader translates. We cannot follow every guide and tell them they have to speak — that is his job.”

Ghareeb is calling on the government to eliminate the translation permits, claiming there is no longer a need for them. “We have guides in all languages. But say there is a language we cannot provide — then we can send [one of our 6,000] English-speaking guides and demand that the tour leader speak English as well. Or we could also ask for the help of college students in language departments to accompany the guide and act as translators.”

But Amer points out that is not practical, as there is a shortage of rare languages even in universities. “We have asked the universities with tourism departments to offer different languages and encourage students to learn languages other than English, Spanish and French. This is probably the best long-term plan.”

In the meantime, Amer says there is no sense in getting rid of translation permits unless there is a feasible alternative.

Despite official recognition, the EGTGS president is adamant that any foreigner guiding in Egypt is an illegal guide, basing his argument on Law 21, maintaining that illegal guiding is bad for the country as a whole. “It increases unemployment, the foreigners get paid in dollars and they take that money out of Egypt, they also demand higher pay. It is like foreigners belly dancing — but [illegal] guiding is a more serious threat to national security,” Ghareeb asserts.

Now more than ever, Ghareeb says, tourists come to Egypt with preconceived notions and stereotypes, and this is where the job of a tourist guide is most crucial. “One article of the law stipulates that tourist guides cannot enter into debates regarding political or religious issues,” he says. “However, at the same time, if the tourist asks about the Palestinian conflict or the Iraq war, the guide has to know enough about history and current affairs to answer these questions.”

In the syndicate president’s mind, the strongest argument against foreign tour guides is, quite simply, that Egyptians do it better. “Statistics show that Egyptian tourist guides are among the best in the world,” Ghareeb asserts. “Thirty to 50 percent of repeat visitors come back because they had a good experience with the guide.”

Interior Ministry: Illegal Immigration is No Problem

With the tempest in a teapot over foreign guides and belly dancers still brewing, one question remains: Does Egypt have a problem with illegal immigration? Not at all, according to Major General Abdelhadi Ahmed Badr, director of the Ministry of Interior’s Passports, Immigration and Nationality Administration.

“Economic reasons are the main factor contributing to illegal immigration today, [something] many countries suffer from,” Badr says. “Egypt is actively cooperating with several countries and concerned parties in the global effort to limit this phenomenon. However, it is not a problem we face [as a country]. The numbers of tourists from a given race arriving to and departing from the country mostly match.”

Egypt is believed to have several hundred thousand illegal migrants within its borders, most of them undocumented Sudanese and other Africans fleeing conflicts on the continent, as well as a number who have failed in their asylum cases. Tensions between refugees and the state led to bloodshed late last year after Sudanese asylum seekers launched a weeks-long sit-in to protest the United Nations High Commission for Refugees’ handling of their cases. More than 20 Sudanese are believed to have died in a clash with security forces.

The administration is responsible for examining travel documents provided by tourists at the port of entry, “especially those coming from countries that are known to be exporters of illegal immigration,” Badr explains. “Authorities take extra care in validating their passports and visas.

“Other measures involve monitoring Egypt’s coasts and land ports to restrict the possibility of entry via unauthorized areas. This limits the possibility of illegal immigrants entering Egypt or their attempts to use Egypt as a passage to European countries.”

The general says that a few times a year people are caught trying to go through Egypt to Italy, Germany or France by boarding rickety fishing boats to cross the Mediterranean.

“Egypt and its neighboring countries try to cooperate to limit this phenomenon. Recently, an agreement was drawn up, and is about to be officially signed, between Egypt and Italy,” he adds. Not only will the two countries share knowledge, expertise, and devices that can help track illegal immigration attempts, but the accord also ensures the safe return of Egyptians living in Italy illegally. Other countries, including France and Germany, are also looking to enter into such agreements with Egypt.

Meanwhile, the government is currently working with Europe to find work overseas for Egyptians. “We try to get real job opportunities so some people can travel abroad and work legally,” says Badr. “Italy has provided almost 7,000 job opportunities.” et


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