Lebanon · Permanent residence
Permanent Residence
Permanent Residence is issued by General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon). VisaAI tracks 23 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.
Last verified against the official source on .
VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.
Requirements change. Confirm every item on General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon)’s own page before you apply.
Each requirement below is written in plain English by VisaAI. The indented text beneath it is quoted from General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon)’s own page, so you can check what we say against what they say. Where a quotation shows “ ... ”, text has been left out.
Conditions you must meet
- Three-year, work-permit route: not granted to Egyptian nationalsStated flatly by the authority, and repeated by it for the two-year permit.
Note: This residence permit is not granted to Egyptian nationals.
- If the passport has between eighteen months and two years left, the permit is cut to the passportThe permit follows the document, not the entitlement.
• If the passport validity is less than two years and more than one and a half years, the residence permit is granted according to passport validity.
- If the passport has between thirty months and three years left, the permit is cut to the passportThe same rule at the three-year threshold, stated separately by the authority.
• If the passport validity is less than three years and more than two and a half years, the residence permit is granted according to passport validity.
- Two-year work permits yield a ONE-year residence permit, renewable for the second year on the same permitThis is the note that stops a two-year work permit being read as two years of residence.
• Regarding two-year work permits, holders are granted a one-year residence permit, provided that the same permit is valid for renewal of the residence permit for the second year.
Official forms
- Three-year: complete the approved application formFirst row of the document list.
• Complete the approved application form.
Documents you must provide
- Three-year: a colour copy of a passport valid at least three years, plus two photocopiesThe validity floor matches the permit length, and the two photocopies are part of the requirement.
• A colored copy of a passport valid for at least three years, plus two photocopies.
- Three-year: three recent passport-size photographsQuantity stated by the authority.
• Three recent passport-size photographs.
- Three-year, cash-guarantee route: a written undertaking not to work, for applicants under 64Age-bounded, and the bound is unusual enough to be worth quoting exactly.
• A written undertaking not to work for applicants under 64 years of age.
- Three-year, cash-guarantee route: LBP 4,500,000,000 deposited with the Ministry of FinanceLBP 4,500,000,000The authority writes the figure twice — in digits and in words — and names exactly which department holds it.
• A cash guarantee of LBP 4,500,000,000 (Four Billion Five Hundred Million Lebanese Pounds), to be deposited in cash or by a Fresh cashier’s check with the Ministry of Finance – Treasury Directorate – Accounting and Funds Department.
- Three-year, cash-guarantee route: lease or title deed — and who the permit coversThe coverage note shares the line with the document and is kept with it: spouse, minor children and dependent relatives over 64.
• Lease agreement or title deed. Note: This residence permit covers the applicant, spouse, minor children, and dependent relatives over 64 years of age.
- Three-year, businessperson or investor: a home-country certificate confirming professional statusIssued by the competent authorities in the applicant’s own country.
• A certificate issued by the competent authorities in the applicant's home country confirming his/her professional status.
- Three-year, businessperson or investor: a Lebanese certificate confirming investment projects have COMMENCEDCommenced, not planned. That word is the requirement.
• A certificate issued by the competent Lebanese authorities confirming that the applicant has commenced investment projects in Lebanon.
- Three-year, work-permit route: a three-year work permit with at least two years six months leftMeasured at the time of application.
• A three-year work permit with at least two years and six months of remaining validity at the time of application, together with a copy.
- Three-year, work-permit route: a copy of the employer’s ID, or the commercial registration certificateWhich of the two depends on whether the sponsor is a person or a legal entity.
• A copy of the employer's ID (or the Commercial Registration Certificate if the sponsor is a legal entity).
- Three-year, work-permit route: a certified true copy of the three-year employment contractThe authority’s exceptions travel with the requirement — employers, representatives or agents of foreign companies, and news-agency correspondents without a Lebanese office.
• A certified true copy of the three-year employment contract (except for employers, representatives or agents of foreign companies, or correspondents of news agencies that do not have a representative office in Lebanon).
- Two-year: a colour copy of a passport valid at least two years, plus two photocopiesA different floor from the three-year permit.
• A colored copy of a passport valid for at least two years, plus two photocopies.
- Two-year: a two-year work permit with at least eighteen months’ validityMeasured at the time of application, and a different threshold from the three-year route’s thirty months.
• A two-year work permit, provided that its validity is not less than eighteen months at the time of application, plus a copy.
- Two-year: a certified true copy of the two-year employment contractWith the same named exceptions as the three-year route.
• A certified true copy of the two-year employment contract (except for employers, representatives or agents of foreign companies, or correspondents of news agencies that do not have a representative office in Lebanon).
Government fees
- Three-year, cash-guarantee route: fee of LBP 54,000,000LBP 54,000,000The fee stated against this route in the authority’s own table.
Based on a Cash Guarantee ... LBP 54,000,000
- Three-year, Arab-national businessperson or investor: fee of LBP 54,000,000LBP 54,000,000Stated separately by the authority even though it equals the cash-guarantee fee.
Businessperson or Investor (Nationals of Arab Countries) ... LBP 54,000,000
- Three-year, work-permit route: first category LBP 108,000,000 per yearLBP 108,000,000Per year, not per permit, and the second category is a different figure quoted separately.
First Category: LBP 108,000,000 per year.
- Three-year, work-permit route: second category LBP 72,000,000 per yearLBP 72,000,000Quoted separately from the first category because the two are 36 million apart.
Second Category: LBP 72,000,000 per year.
- Two-year permanent residence: fee of LBP 216,000,000LBP 216,000,000Four times the three-year cash-guarantee fee, for a shorter permit. Quoted as published.
Holder of a Two-Year Work Permit (First Category Only) ... LBP 216,000,000
Official sources
- Permanent residence — Requirements, General Directorate of General Security (Lebanon)