One report suggests that he left Egypt for good in 1958.[4] However, personal narrative essays he published in The Guardian (Manchester) between 1957 and 1959 about life in exile suggest that Ghali was already living in Europe by that time. After living in Stockholm, Ghali moved to West Germany in 1960. According to Athill he picked up whatever work he could find, including at the docks in Hamburg, as a labourer in factories, and as a clerk.[2] From 1964 until 1966, he was employed by the British Army Royal Pay Corps in Rheydt, West Germany.