Hahahahahahahaaaaa!!

No.

In reply to Robey:

Oh dear - are we mad to even be contemplating letting him do this?

In reply to Candice:

I think Robey is laughing at the likelihood of people understanding Egyptian employment law.

Given all the previous warnings on this site about the legal//tax issues as well as GDPR then it might just be nervous laughter

In reply to Candice:

Sorry. That was a very unhelpful answer.

But to expand on it, if you wanted to keep them employed then you'd really have to establish a legal entity in Egypt to employ them. It's a very long time since I lived in Egypt but I'm told it's not changed all that much, and I can't imagine what a spectacular pain in the neck trying to remotely operate an Egyptian trading entity would be. It's hard enough running one in the EU.

The "good" news, though, is that our new government is a lot less worried about IR35 regulations, so you can probably come to some arrangement by which they resign and return in a consulting capacity as a sole trader or limited company. However, political promises are as pie crust, so you might prefer to keep your powder dry rather than rely upon their commitment to overturn IR35 next year.

Just say no.

It really depends on how much of the additional cost he's willing to bear....
You can get a tax adviser to run some kind of local payroll for you, it may not always be necessary to have an entity. Or you could look at an Employer of Record / PEO type entity. They will have a cost, which it's not clear that you should bear all of if it's his choice to work there.
If he's saving money by having Egyptian living costs, there might be some accommodation you can reach - and he may not be using some UK benefits that might give you a saving.
Don't rule it out completely, as you will have a potentially loyal employee, conveniently out of reach of your competitors if they are in need of more staff :)

You may laugh..but this is a growing issue for a number of organisations who are discovering that staff literally went 'home' during the pandemic, took their lap-tops and remain there (without line manager knowledge/agreement).

Resorting to the individual's contract explicit is the requirement that employees are required to work from a base (UK) location and possess a UK bank account to progress pay. As well as a potential breach of contract individuals were given notice to relocate to the UK or their contract would be terminated. Oh, in the meantime, the government of the country were asking the organisation for outstanding tax including health 'insurance'. This is in addition to UK Tax/NI and stuff...something like an additional 65% on top of the salary.

In terms of Egyptian employment law there are also regional variances to consider. My suggestion is to identify a good Employer of Record organisation who can manage the employee in Egypt (at a cost) or invest in a local (Egyptian) employment lawyer to advise

One thing is clear...its expensive

In reply to Ruth Gibson:

Thanks very much for all your input. My initial warnings to our directors were that this was going to be expensive, so thanks, Ruth for confirming my fears were correct! Lots of people seem to be under the impression that they can go and work anywhere in the world on a whim and I'm sure its not as easy as that. I will continue with my search for a local employment lawyer to advise. Thanks everyone

In reply to Robey:

political promises are as pie crust, so you might prefer to keep your powder dry rather than rely upon their commitment to overturn IR35 next year.

Wow. That dated surprisingly well.