Workforce Mobility & Immigration in Lebanon

Work permit and residence permit coordination through the Ministry of Labour and General Security for foreign managers and key staff.

Lebanon Reviewed September 2026

Currency

LBP (Lebanese pound) — market rate ~LBP 89,600/USD (mid-2026); most contracts and pricing are effectively USD-denominated

Free movement

Not applicable — work permit generally required for all nationalities

Main non-EU route

Work permit issued by the Ministry of Labour (Foreign Work Control Department) is mandatory for any foreign national in any role; process generally takes 1–3 months

Registration deadline

Typically within 1–2 weeks of arrival

Housing — single employee

~$500–900/month (1-bed, Achrafieh/Hamra); citywide average ~$630/month — effectively USD-priced given the currency situation

Housing — family of four

~$1,200–1,250/month (3-bed, Achrafieh)

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Moving workforce into Lebanon

Lebanon applies a flat 17% corporate income tax rate and an 11% standard VAT rate (a rise to 12% was approved by Cabinet in February 2026 but is not yet enacted), figures that read as unremarkable next to most jurisdictions in the region. The defining operational fact for any business in Lebanon is not the tax code but the currency: the Lebanese pound has lost more than 98% of its value since the pre-2019 official peg of LBP 1,507.5 per US dollar, trading at approximately LBP 89,600 per dollar in mid-2026, with the pre-crisis official peg long since replaced by market-driven pricing for virtually all transactions.

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Lebanon is not an EU/EEA member

Work permit issued by the Ministry of Labour (Foreign Work Control Department) is mandatory for any foreign national in any role; process generally takes 1–3 months, the employer must demonstrate the role cannot be filled by a Lebanese national, and the permit is typically valid 1 year, renewable up to 3

Confirm the right route for a hire

What sits with the company

Once the right to work is confirmed, payroll registration follows — see our Payroll & Workforce Management in Lebanon guide for the employer registration steps that come next.

Set up a relocation process

What it costs to house a relocating employee

Figures below are indicative for Beirut, Lebanon's primary market for relocating employees — a company relocating multiple staff should budget by destination city, not a single national number.

Item	Single employee	Family of four
Typical apartment	1-bedroom	3-bedroom
Rent (Beirut)	~$500–900/month (1-bed, Achrafieh/Hamra); citywide average ~$630/month — effectively USD-priced given the currency situation	~$1,200–1,250/month (3-bed, Achrafieh)
Security deposit	[VERIFY: typical security deposit convention for Beirut residential leases — could not confirm a standard months-of-rent figure from available sources]	[VERIFY: typical security deposit convention for Beirut residential leases — could not confirm a standard months-of-rent figure from available sources]

Get a city-specific relocation estimate

Frequently asked questions

Why does Lebanon's minimum share capital look so low?

The SARL minimum of LBP 5,000,000 was set at a time when it equated to roughly $3,300 at the official pre-2019 peg of LBP 1,507.5 per dollar. Since the lira's collapse, that same nominal figure is worth approximately $56 at the mid-2026 market rate of roughly LBP 89,600 per dollar — the law was never amended, only the currency changed.

Does the statutory audit requirement apply to small companies?

Yes, for SARL and SAL entities it applies regardless of size — Ministerial Decree No. 8089/1996 requires an LACPA-registered CPA audit for every SARL, SAL, holding, offshore company and foreign branch. Sole proprietorships and partnerships are only required to audit above 25 employees or LBP 750 million turnover, a threshold now equal to roughly $8,370 at market rates.

What are "fresh dollars" and why do they matter for running a business?

"Fresh dollars" are US dollars held in bank accounts opened or funded after the 2019 banking crisis, which clear and transfer under different rules than pre-crisis dollar deposits, most of which remain effectively frozen. This distinction shapes how a company can practically pay salaries, settle supplier invoices, or move capital contributions through the banking system.

How long does it take to register a company in Lebanon?

Total registration typically takes around 2–3 weeks: name reservation with the Commercial Registry takes 1–3 working days, followed by roughly 10–15 days for registration itself. An SAL generally takes longer than a SARL given its three-shareholder minimum and additional capital-deposit formalities.

Talk to a Lebanon mobility expert

Every Lebanese compliance figure quoted in LBP needs an accompanying market-rate conversion before a client can act on it — treating lira figures as fixed reference points, as one might in a stable-currency jurisdiction, misstates the real threshold by orders of magnitude within a single fiscal year.

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