Contract

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I would be very wary about this.  I've never heard of these "contracts"; what is it for?  What does the contract say; who is the arbiter of this contract; can you end up in jail?  Perhaps it would be better if you invited him to come and stay in the UK for a week.  If he has not completed his military service, he will not be permitted to travel outside of Egypt without an exemption issued by the military.

We have heard stories of the incredible lengths some men/women will go to in order to get out of their country; many have not been happy stories and have crashed and burned on the way.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you for replying, it has definitely given me food for thought and the opportunity to ask him more about this contract and what it entails.

Apparently this contract is an Orfi. Being Muslim it is against the law for us to stay together, so as I understand it, these are becoming very popular between Arabic men and western women so they can stay together whilst in Egypt. What I have found so far is that it is not a legal marriage as this has to be done in Cairo (thank god as I am not looking to marry this man) and it doesn't appear to be worth the paper it's written on, but stops police arresting either one of us for staying together. This Orfi can be torn up at the end of the week, or just kept if  we want to continue as a relationship and I go out again.

Have I got this just about right?

Thank you

Hi again,

I'd heard of the process, but not the name - thank you I've learned something.

From what I know of this "process"; when I say "know", I have no personal experience, just picked up from bits and pieces over time.  It's something that a (married - normally, but not always) Muslim Egyptian male goes through in order for him to form another relationship with (and possibly marry) another (normally western) woman; so he's maybe already married and I must emphasise that by his society "rules" he's doing nothing wrong in Egypt; it simply prevents him from being charged with adultery by his other wife(s) - the logic is it can't be adultery because he's married to you.  It's a marriage in Egypt only and in good Muslim tradition, he can divorce you at the end by simply saying "I divorce you" 3 times - you apparently have no say in the matter and don't even have to be there.

What to do?  Who am I to judge you ............................... (not a question, it's a statement).

Just please be very careful.

Could you not stay in a hotel and meet up during the day?

Cstone wrote:

He has said that Egyptian men are not allowed to stay on complexes with western girls unless we sign a contract when I arrive first and this contract has to have two witnesses

Orfi (lots of ways to spell it) marriage.
These are basically sex licenses that allow local men to marry for a while. They have no force in law anywhere in the world but will generally protect you from the cops in Egypt.
I gather from an Egyptian chap I met they're locally known as F*** papers and the ladies used (yes, I chose the word) are commonly treated with the same casual disdain.

They have absolutely no force in law anywhere, there are no divorce settlements or whatever, and they aren't worth anything outside Egypt.
Note - They may not protect you if you're alone with a man as they have no legal value within that country, but I understand they generally do.