Avoiding scams and illegal agents

What the Embassy in Cairo says about third parties, and how to check an offer before you pay.

Typical patterns

• "Guaranteed" visas or sold appointments. No one can guarantee a visa. A visa cannot be bought. The Embassy charges the visa fee in Egyptian pounds in cash at its own counter; the external provider TLScontact charges a published service fee. Resale of TLScontact appointment slots in Egypt: no official source found.
• Visa agencies that charge for "files", "invitations" or "placement". A real invitation or contract comes from a named German employer, school or relative.
• Fake job offers and training places by messenger or social media, especially for "Ausbildung", care jobs or IT jobs. A real offer is a contract with a named employer that you can look up in the German commercial register.
• Forged certificates and stamps. The Embassy legalises only after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has pre-authenticated the document; a bought stamp or a forged diploma leads to refusal and may lead to an entry ban (Documents).
• Charges for free programmes. The GIZ advice at the Egyptian-German Center is free of charge; see Programmes. Do not pay anyone to "get you in".

How to check before you pay anything

• Use only the Embassy's visa pages and the provider site that the Embassy links: kairo.diplo.de.
• Look up the employer and call its published number; ask for the contract in writing.
• Recognition questions: the federal portal anerkennung-in-deutschland.de is free.
• For nursing, look for employers and agencies with the seal Faire Anwerbung Pflege Deutschland.

Already in Berlin and being exploited? See Already in Berlin?. Egyptian rules on licensed recruitment agencies and their fees were not checked against an official source.