Egypt toughens penalty on illegal migration amending penal code

CAIRO – 29 March 2022: The House of Representatives passed Tuesday in its plenary session amendments pertinent to illegal migration to the penal code toughening the penalty on illegal migrants, individuals who provide shelter to them, migrant smugglers, and those who do not report illegal migration cases.  

The sentences handed to illegal migrants will now be imprisonment for three to 15 years, and a fine varying between LE200,000 and LE500,000.

As for migrant smugglers, they will have to pay an amount equal to the revenues they achieved through their illegal activity in addition to a fine ranging between LE500,000 and LE1 million. They will also have to serve a prison sentence of at least five years and a maximum of 15 years.

As the penalty of not reporting illegal migration cases is either or both imprisonment for at least one year, and a fine worth LE50,000 and LE200,000. If the convict is a public employee, who violated his job requirements by not reporting the crime, the penalty becomes a prison sentence of three to five years.

Finally, sheltering illegal migrants incurs a fine, whose value ranges between LE1 million and LE5 million. As for those who run centers dedicated for that purpose, the imprisonment is added to the penalty.

It is noted that no single illegal migrant has left Egyptian shores since 2016, according to previous statements by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.