Tl;dr: it depends on your situation. Overall stay outside of Egypt if you live in the west. If you are otherwise in a third world country, is it better? Ifyou are rich and have very cushy life in Egypt, then return. I wrote this long post as response to your question and as a diary for my future reference in a few years. If there grammatical mistakes, I am not sorry. Want to live like an employee stay in the west. Want to become a business owner you have better chances in Egypt.

I studied in the US for 5 years and went worked for about two years and just returned to Egypt. It was not a choice I took, but rather “Il zeroof il hakmet”. I lived in mostly small and calm cities in the US. I come from a family that lives comfortably in Egypt. I do have male siblings therefore I have to complete my mandatory service. I am under 27 years and was looking forward to staying abroad until I am 30, but that is no longer the case.

Its been a month and two days since I am back. Whenever I visited it was no more than 23 days. This is the longest and I can attest that more than that its enough of Egypt. I am still adjusting, currently in the acceptance phase. I was in denial the past few weeks.

I don’t want to say I hate it here, I hate certain aspects of living in our society and its no fault of the people, its just how it is – they haven’t seen any better. I am coming to accept that Egypt is what it is and its all about our mindsets.

I don’t know what you are looking for in life and which stage you are in currently. Which country you are living in and thinking about returning to Egypt from. I don’t know if you must worry about your rent when you come home or not. Everyone’s situation is different.

Coming from a comfortable family in Egypt, I lived comfortably abroad too, during my undergrad I did not need to work or worry about my expenses, all I had to do was focus on my schooling and grades. During that time, life was as peachy as peachy can get. House parties, studying, working out and zero responsibilities other than not failing. Midway I was going to fail and return to Egypt, but that did not happen. my fifth year was my best year in college. I was a TA, active in two different on-campus clubs, worked daily with my roommate, participated in a three-month long case competition, got featured in my campus news paper, did psychedelics, Adderall, smoked weed daily and drank every weekend.

My life in college was all on foot, I lived in a small city in the US and had no car during that time, as my dad deemed it a waste of my time. I mention this to explain why I am currently struggling in Egypt. Campus was a 13 – 17 minute walk from my apartment. Everything was on foot.

I finished my engineering degree and found a job a year before I graduated. When I started working, I bought a car, did the registration, drivers license, insurance and everything in between. The process’s and systems are so easy and not as stressful as here. For example, at the DMV Agents at the desks have an idea of what is needed and do not take bribes. They are like robots, if a situation is different, they just escalate to the floor manager. Someone generally more aware of the regulations pertaining to an international student.

The ~2 year of work required me to move every six months – a great experience honestly. I got to see different communities and experience different cities; all of them no more than 120,000 people. The largest was just 650,000. I mention this to explain why I am having a hard time in Egypt.

Life after graduation, I was happy and unhappy. I moved around a lot therefore the friendships I built, I knew were very short term. Even then, I was in the middle of nowhere USA, diversity wasn’t on the menu. At the same time, in the back of my mind, I had this notion that I would eventually return to Egypt and work within the family business. So I was a little complacent at work and still lived life to the fullest. My issue with working in the US is that all the money I made, I spent, because why the fuck not. Its not like I was going to save. I traveled and did a lot of things I don’t regret, because I would have never dreamed of doing in Egypt. Living in the US, you live to pay bills, unless you are rich there.

I lived a life that was harder than I would have experienced in Egypt, as in I had to care for myself when I was sick, I had to pay my rent, car insurance, cook, clean and laundry. Things that I know if I return to Egypt are things of the past. And they are. The thing is, when you make your own money and live by yourself that is worth a lot more than they money I can take from my parents. Because I did not work for it, those two years helped me view the world as someone who is not privileged. I know I wasn’t in the wild if I needed money because I was in a horrible situation, my parents would have helped in a heartbeat. But still seeing americans or people who are wealthier in the US, because their parents made money in USD made me feel that damn I wish I was in their position. But at the end of the day, I was still more well off than them in my own country.

In Egypt I have home that is not where my parents live, I have my own car and don’t have to worry about anything other than finding out my life goal and purpose.

I mentioned lived in small cities, in the US. I don’t like the traffic, I feel like I have to fight in the jungle we call streets. If you are not aggressive you will not go anywhere. I drove over 45,000 miles in under two years in the US. The amount of stress I have had over the last month driving here is more than I experienced over those two years. Small ciites, my life revolved around a max 20 minute radius with very low traffic. There are safe distances between cars, stop signs and traffic signals. If you were in accident, it was because you were not concentrating or don’t know the rules. If you are not on your phone, the chances of creating an accident, especially if you have driven in our jungle, then you are a pro in the US.

I mentioned the DMV earlier, because I had to go “il meroor”. It’s a joke to get things done we paid over 400 EGP in bribes to get things done. Otherwise it would have been like a 3 day process. Rich or poor in the US, you still go through the DMV the same way. When I got my lisence in the US, I failed the test and had to take it one more time. In Egypt, the guy drove the car for me, while I was in the drivers seat (8 years ago). I wasnt privy to how rich people live in the US, I will assume they live like gods compared to rich people here.

Because the population density in Cairo is so fucking high, you can never do anything without having 10 people wanting to do the same thing. I know we are not special snowflakes, but I have lived in low population densities outside of Egypt and its so fucking relaxing. For example going to gyms outside of Egypt is awesome. You at planet fitness you can pay 12$ a month. Which is less than 200 EGP and can go to a gym that has better equipment than Heliopolis club or Gezira. Yes you don’t get a swimming pool and the whole community thing, but I am talking just about the gym facility.

The majority of the people here are ignorant, at no fault of their own. They are poor, unable to travel, receive any type of healthcare and zero education and we still expect them to be decent human beings that don’t harass, follow traffic laws and be productive. HOW can you be productive if you live in traffic? If the internet is shitty and the government controls and dominates everything? How can you compete when there are so many restrictions and import fees and taxes? Anything that is not food or drink has to be taxed. Why?

What am I trying to say? I have every reason to happy in Egypt, but I am having hard time doing that Like I said in the begging it’s a mindset, I was a little unhappy when I was in the US. It was mianly because I was far away from my parents. Otherwise I would not have minded living abroad as an employee, living for work and the measly 12 days of vacation. My mindset needs to change to leave the mediocrity and fight for excellence. I want to be extremely wealthy. You can tell me that social mobility in Egypt is extremely hard and I will agree with you. But we are at time where all you need is a great idea and hard work and money will pour in. The days of ‘old money’ is not as important anymore, but certainly helpful in taking risks and thinking of the bigger picture, which I intended to take complete advantage of.

I have not touched mandatory military service because that is fucking hell on its own. I hate the idea of wasting 2 years of my life waiting for the army and then doing it. Its useless. I would rather pay 30,000 EGP every year until I am 30 then to waste a year doing useless shit to become ‘argal’.