CHAMBER OF DIVING & WATERSPORTS

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING WORK PERMITS
Dear Members, Last week I had a meeting with the Minister of Labor Mrs. Eisha Abdel Hady and Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garanah. During this meeting I explained the need to have foreigners working in diving to fill in the shortage of Egyptian qualified staff who speak the languages required. My argument was well accepted and the Minister of Labor agreed to give us an exception of 10% ratio required. However, she made it very clear that in return she expects that CDWS do not issue CDWS cards before verifying work permits or at least the green receipt (form n.4). I explained to both ministers that the long bureaucratic procedures were the main reason why most foreigners did not have a work permit. I asked that we are exempted from the procedure called "Isteqdam" which meant that our staff had to leave the country, wait few weeks and then fly back into Egypt again. She agreed. Moreover, I asked if it was possible to submit employees files and obtain the green receipt without the HIV certificate. She agreed, but added that the final work permit would not be handed to the person before the HIV test certificate is submitted. The procedures have now truly been eased and we are required to stick to them. The process you need to follow if you need to employ a number of non Egyptians that exceeds 10% of your Egyptians staff is as follows : 1. You download CDWS work permit exception application form and fill it in, sign it and stamp it. (click on link) 2. You download the declaration form and you fill it in, sign it and stamp it. (click on link) 3. You submit these 2 forms + Social Insurance form number 2 to your CDWS office. 4. CDWS will issue you with a letter of support to your case that you present to the Ministry of Labor with your request. [i]NOTE: If you cannot download these forms, reply to this email and they can be sent to you as attachments [/i] Mrs. Eman El Nahas, the assistant to the Minister for work permits issues, assured me that requests from our members submitted to her with a CDWS support letter will be dealt with quickly. I estimate it will take a weeks time. Then, you will be in a position to start the work permit process for your staff for the year. The exemption for the "Isteqdam" and the approval to get the green receipt (form n.4) before submitting HIV test results mean that you can literally get the green receipt within a period of 1 week for companies under law 159 and 2 weeks for companies under law 8. Based on the above and effective November 1st CDWS will not issue cards without the green receipt or the work permit. For further inquiries related to this matter email Marawan at : sinai.membership@cdws.travel Regards, Hesham Gabr Chairman .
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