Egypt’s government has published the executive regulations for its first comprehensive Law on Foreign Asylum, setting a six-month deadline for the transfer of refugee registration and status determination from the UN refugee agency to a newly created national committee. The regulations, issued days after UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi visited Cairo, mandate that the Permanent Committee for Refugee Affairs receive all UNHCR databases within that period. Existing UNHCR-issued refugee cards remain valid until their expiry or until the committee issues new national documents, and a six-month grace period is granted to those whose documents have already lapsed to regularise their status. The law also obliges refugees to submit current documentation at least one month before expiry and empowers the prime minister to extend transitional periods to ensure a smooth transfer of competencies.

Egyptian officials, speaking during Grandi’s visit, described the law as a historic step to strengthen the national legislative framework. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the legislation represents the first integrated national system for managing refugees and asylum seekers in a manner consistent with Egypt’s regional and international obligations. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi separately stressed that Egypt has never exploited the refugee issue for political ends and called for the activation of burden-sharing principles and increased international support. Cairo estimates it hosts over nine million foreigners from 133 countries, with the public treasury bearing an annual cost of around $10 billion for their hosting and care, a figure repeatedly cited by Egyptian authorities to underline the economic strain.

In a parallel tightening of migration controls, Georgia’s parliament adopted amendments to the law on the legal status of foreigners, creating a special inter-agency commission under the interior ministry to verify the authenticity of marriages between Georgian citizens and foreign nationals. The commission, which includes social service officials, may interview spouses jointly or separately before granting a one-year residence permit on marriage grounds. A new article in the criminal code punishes foreigners who enter a fictitious marriage to obtain residency with expulsion and a ban on re-entry of up to ten years or a heavy fine, while Georgian citizens face up to two years’ imprisonment. The interior ministry justified the measures by pointing to what it called persistent abuse by nationals of certain Asian and African countries who exploited the absence of controls. The move echoes a recent Russian law requiring a three-year waiting period after marriage before a foreign spouse can apply for permanent residency, a measure explicitly aimed at curbing sham unions.

A court case in France illustrates the legal friction that can arise when local authorities attempt to block suspected marriages of convenience. A court in Meaux ordered the municipality of Chessy to pay €6,000 in damages plus costs to an Algerian man under a deportation order and his Finnish partner after the mayor refused to solemnise their marriage, deeming it a fiction designed to regularise the man’s status. The prosecutor argued the deportation order had lapsed, and the court imposed daily fines until the new mayor performed the ceremony under protest. The judge later acknowledged that the bride had returned to Finland for medical reasons and the couple did not cohabit, a fact that reduced but did not eliminate the compensation awarded. The Egyptian transition now proceeds with the permanent committee set to assume full responsibility for asylum claims, while Georgia’s new verification commission is expected to begin its work in the coming months.