During the writing of this paper, after the holy month of Ramadan (June 18-July 17) in 2015, the season of crossing the Mediterranean Sea by hundreds if not thousands of refugees is approaching its peak. All over the European media it can be read and seen that the countries on the borders of the European Union are facing high arrival numbers of refugees. Especially pictures of overcrowded refugee boats are too often on the front pages and on the screens. It seems that this stream of refugees is endless, and politics in destination countries of immigration is unable to manage this stream. For most people, it seems that main causes of this tragedy are the reasons that drive humans to leave their country in order to pursue a better future and their destinations. But the fact that migration consists of many facets is often overseen. This paper highlights the facet of migration of Syrian refugees.
The focus of this paper is to highlight the legal sphere that Syrian refugees navigate in Egypt. This objective is achieved by establishing a framework for this field of research in order to give a summary of the particularities, which justify this research. Further, Syrian refugees of the current civil war who are residing in Egypt are characterized and their influx is analyzed along the lines of the aid of UNHCR-data. Since the reasons that depict a pull-factor
for Syrian immigration to Egypt can interact with legal issues, it is also of importance to state these. The UNHCR is one of the main actors concerning refugee questions in the country. The role the UNHCR plays for the refugees as well as relations with the government, but especially the documentation provided for Syrian refugees are the subjects of study in this work. Reasons will be set out why this certain documentation can contribute to irregular migration. Concerning travel documents, the role of the Syrian embassy in Cairo as well as their task to provide consular services to Syrian nationals is a non-negligible factor the legal sphere.
