Beirutculture & etiquette

Since 2019 Lebanese banks have operated under informal restrictions imposed through central bank circulars rather than a capital control law, which parliament has repeatedly failed to pass. Accounts opened on or before 17 October 2019 are subject to monthly withdrawal limits and are effectively blocked from external transfer; press reporting through 2025 and 2026 has put typical monthly access at a few hundred dollars. A legislative reform process is under way — bank secrecy amendments and a banking sector recovery law passed in 2025, with a bank restructuring law and a depositor recovery framework still moving — but nothing is settled. Practical consequence: do not move savings into a Lebanese bank, and do not assume you can transfer money out of one.

Lebanon's economy is heavily dollarised in practice. Rent is quoted and paid in 'fresh' US dollars — physical cash or funds in a post-2019 account — and so are many salaries, school fees and medical bills. The Lebanese pound's rate has been held at 89,500 to the dollar in the central bank's own accounts since early 2024, but quoting that rate tells you very little about how anything is actually paid. Establish before you accept a job: in what currency, into what kind of account, and whether you can get the money out. That question matters more here than the size of the number.

Électricité du Liban does not supply power around the clock, and almost every building subscribes to a private neighbourhood generator for the remaining hours. Subscriptions are sold by amperage — 5 amps, 10 amps and upward — with the Ministry of Energy and Water publishing a tariff each month that tracks diesel prices, and the Ministry of Economy requiring electronic meters so that consumption is measured rather than estimated. Before you rent, ask three things: how many hours of state power the area gets, what amperage the flat is subscribed at, and whether the generator bill is included. Solar panels have become common and are worth asking about too.

Working legally in Lebanon requires a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and a residence permit from General Security, in that order. Decree No. 17561 of 1964, the Foreign Workers Regulation, embeds a preference for Lebanese nationals, and a ministerial decree reserves roughly seventy professions — covering broad areas including administrative, banking, insurance and educational work — for Lebanese only. Permits are graded into classes, and the class determines whether your spouse and children can obtain residence on your permit. Confirm both the profession and the permit class before you accept anything.

On 4 August 2020 a large quantity of improperly stored ammonium nitrate detonated at the Port of Beirut, killing more than two hundred people, injuring thousands and devastating the neighbourhoods immediately west and south of the port — Mar Mikhael, Gemmayzeh, Karantina and much of Achrafieh. Those districts have substantially been rebuilt, largely through private and diaspora effort, and Mar Mikhael's bars and restaurants are open again. Some buildings remain damaged, and the grain silos at the port are a visible ruin. This is recent history that residents lived through; approach it with the seriousness it warrants rather than as a sightseeing item.

Arabic, French and English are all in daily use, frequently within a single sentence, and code-switching is normal rather than affected. French carries a particular history in Lebanon and English has grown among younger professionals and in the international sector. In practice you can live in Beirut on English alone, more easily than in almost any other Arab capital. Learning Lebanese Arabic is still the difference between living here and living beside here, and Beirut is an excellent place to do it.