The documents required to register a company in Egypt depend on your entity type and who the founders are, but most files fall into four clear groups. This checklist walks through each one.
Getting your paperwork right is the single biggest thing that decides whether your company is registered in days or stuck in weeks of back-and-forth. The good news: the core list is short and predictable. Requirements vary by entity type (LLC, one-person company, sole proprietorship, joint-stock company) and by activity, and rules change over time, so treat everything below as a working checklist rather than a legal guarantee. On Taseesly, a human advisor reviews your files and confirms your exact list before anything is submitted. For the full walkthrough of the process, see our guide on how to register a company in Egypt.
Documents for Egyptian founders
If every founder is an Egyptian national, the personal paperwork is straightforward:
- Valid national ID for each founder and manager, unexpired, with clearly readable data.
- Proof of the registered office address — a lease contract or ownership deed for the premises the company will use as its official seat.
- A recent utility bill for the office address in some cases, to confirm the location.
- Passport-style photos of managers where requested.
- Criminal record / good-conduct certificate for managers in certain activities.
The most common cause of delay here is a mismatch: the name spelled one way on the ID and another way on the lease, or an ID that expired between intake and submission. Check that every name matches exactly, letter for letter, across all documents.
Documents for foreign founders
Foreign shareholders can fully own most Egyptian company types, but their documents need an extra layer of preparation. If you are investing from abroad, read our dedicated guide on how foreigners can start a business in Egypt.
- Valid passport for each foreign individual founder, with enough remaining validity.
- For a corporate shareholder: the parent company's commercial register extract, articles of association, and a board resolution approving the Egyptian investment.
- Legalization or apostille of all foreign-issued documents. Egypt accepts apostilled documents from countries in the Apostille Convention; other countries require consular legalization through the Egyptian embassy.
- Certified Arabic translation of every foreign document by an accredited translator.
- Power of attorney (POA) authorizing a local representative to sign and file on the founders' behalf — usually the fastest route if founders cannot travel to Egypt.
Foreign paperwork is where timelines most often slip, because legalization and translation happen outside Egypt and cannot be rushed at the last minute. Start these early.
Company documents
These describe the business itself and are largely the same regardless of founder nationality:
- Three to five proposed company names, in order of preference, in case your first choice is already taken or restricted.
- The company contract / articles of association, setting out purpose, capital, shares, and management. For a limited liability company, see how to set up an LLC in Egypt.
- A clear description of the business activity, matched to official activity classifications — this drives licensing and sometimes minimum-capital rules.
- Capital details: the declared capital, how it is divided among shareholders, and, for some entities, a bank certificate confirming a deposit.
- Shareholder and manager information: full legal names, ownership percentages, nationalities, and the appointment of the manager(s) or board.
- A registered office address with supporting proof, as above.
Requirements here scale with the entity: a one-person company and a joint-stock company do not need identical files, and regulated activities (financial, medical, import/export) add sector-specific approvals.
Post-registration documents you receive
Registration is not the finish line — it produces the documents that let you actually operate:
- Commercial register extract ("sigel togari") — proof your company legally exists.
- Tax card ("betaqa dareebiya") — issued by the Tax Authority, required for invoicing and banking.
- Company incorporation certificate and stamped articles.
- VAT registration, once you cross the threshold or if your activity requires it.
- Social insurance registration for the company and any employees.
Once these are in hand, staying compliant is an ongoing task. Our Post-Incorporation Compliance support covers the filings that follow.
Understanding notarization and legalization
Two terms cause the most confusion. Notarization is certifying that a signature or copy is genuine, done before a notary. Legalization (or apostille) is the international chain that makes a document issued in one country valid in another. A foreign board resolution, for example, may need to be notarized at home, apostilled or consular-legalized, then translated into Arabic in Egypt. Skipping any link means the file is rejected at the counter.
Why files get delayed — and how to avoid it
The recurring culprits are simple:
- Name mismatches across ID, lease, and translations.
- Expired IDs or passports by the time of submission.
- Missing or weak address proof for the registered office.
- Foreign documents not legalized or not translated by an accredited translator.
- A business activity described too vaguely to map to an official classification.
A short review before submission catches almost all of these.
Get your exact checklist
Because your list depends on your entity and activity, the safest move is to have it confirmed before you spend on legalization or translation. Start your guided intake and a Taseesly advisor will review your documents and hand you a personalized, ready-to-file checklist. If you have questions first, contact us or compare options on our pricing page.