Work permits for non-Egyptian diving staff required for CDWS renewals

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Red Sea Shadow

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
2,580
Reaction score
87
I received this tonight from CDWS.

-------------------------
As a result of meetings between CDWS and the Minister of Labor it is now a lot easier and cheaper for non-Egyptian diving staff in Egypt to secure a work permit.

As from 1 November all non-Egyptian diving staff submitting CDWS applications or renewals will be required to have a work permit or the green receipt that proves that your file has been submitted to the Ministry of Labor.

As all CDWS memberships are due for renewal soon, it is recommended that all non-Egyptian diving staff speak to their managers about arranging the application for a work permit.
-------------------------
 
any idea how much the new work permits will cost?
 
I have no clue. I don't think it's about work permit cost. It's about dive centers committing that all this staff is working for them, issuing more papers, and moreover issuing Egyptian social insurance documents. In other words, if I get it right, there'll be no place for non-Egyptian freelancers.
 
Work permit cost is 3000 Egyptian pounds. The medical (aids) test and others are about another €100 in total to that.

Its not just the cost of the permit its the paperwork and so on. In order to bypass the 10:1 ratio thing on normal permits you have to go through a dive centre. This will effectively mean an end to freelance instructing who dont have that luxury (which is something CDWS have been trying to do for a while). Given that all of Egypt relies completely on freelance instructors this idea isnt well thought out. Dive centres arent going to issue permits for freelancers and arent going to be able to cope with the typical egypt peaks and troughs - either they'll be paying too many salaried staff through the quiet periods or they'll not have enough staff for the busier times. In other words there's no way it can work without the freelance aspect. The paperwork and justification for employing 1 foreigners vs 10 locals etc again makes things far easier for a big operation to meet than a smaller centre with maybe 5-10 staff in total. So CDWS goal of squashing all the smaller centres continues.

Given the costs of permits etc most people are not going to get it and therefore wont work here any more. You may save 1000 euros a year max when you remove rent and living expenses - to have to pay out 50% of that already meagre salary annually assuming you can get one makes it not worth it and you'd be working for nothing effectively for 3/4 of the year.

What is likely to happen given its Egypt is January 31st all peoples CDWS cards expire. People cope through Feb and March as its quiet. Easter arrives, it starts to get busy, early season a work permit crack down. Then its easter peak season and no centre can operate properly as its got no access to freelance staff to cope with the demand and the system is quietly dropped a month or so later before the summer peak.

That or CDWS vanishes anyway - half its board are already under arrest on corruption charges.

Be interesting to see how it pans out.
 
String,
As you might know, I'm not a CDWS fan but to be honest they're not behind this. I know for sure that they postponed this at least once when the minister of labor force contacted them early this year asking not to issue licenses to non-Egyptian staff but they refused. They couldn't maintain their position on that issue any longer since they already have legal issues and some people are still fighting back (in an invisible mode!).
 
In UK you have to spend £150 for an HSE approved medical so the medical is not the issue
If as String says the work permit is 3000 LE then this is expensive and I would hope has not to be paid by the instructor or at least not in full
I don't mind paying 60 LE for the CDWS card but 3000 is a bit different

Besides all companies set in Egypt must have a ration of 10 Egyptian for each foreign employed. This seems very difficult to achieve even for big companies considering that unless you own the boats, and we know majority rent, just with the DC staff you will never get to that ratio
As of present moment in 99% of cases the DC manager has a work permit and the instructors are officially tourists in training. Like this you barely meet the 10:1 ratio already

And lastly there are not enough Egyptian instructors in any case so maybe the 10:1 must be binned
 
And lastly there are not enough Egyptian instructors in any case so maybe the 10:1 must be binned
There are loads of Egyptian instructors working as freelancers. And there are many Egyptian Divemasters thinking about 1000 times before going on with their IDC, as it's a hell of investment and no work is guaranteed. This ratio will make them calm down a bit.
 
Don't you think it's fair to secure more jobs for the locals? Especially in this economic situation?

BTW, as far as I know and please correct me if I'm wrong, European instructors need to issue work permits for working in some European Union countries other than their home land, even with all the trans-border thing between EU countries. For instance, Brits are required to have work permits in Greece, France, or Malta.
 
No, you don't need any work permits inside the EU. That is why there are a lot of people from Eastern Europe working in Britain.
VISA and Work permits only apply to outside EU countries including US
I am not criticizing the fact that you need a work permit.
I am only concerned that the dive operations, which are doing a lot of price competition, will push this cost on the instructors and that overall this will reduce the opportunities for foreign workers.
Not to mention free lancers who will need to set up a local company that costs a lot of money and then goes back into the 10:1 ratio
If there is no ratio and you can apply for a work permit just for yourself I do not see an issue in starting companies. But tell me why would I need to employ 10 local staff if I am a free lance instructor?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom