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Guide · updated 6 November 2026

Living in Morocco as an expat: the guide

A French citizen can enter Morocco without a visa, but only for 90 days. To live there, you need a residence card, your own health cover and a clear tax situation. Here are the rules, one topic at a time.

Entering Morocco: the 90-day rule

  • No visa is needed for a tourist stay of up to 3 months, which means exactly 90 days.
  • A passport valid for the whole stay is enough. An ID card on its own is no longer accepted.
  • Check that the police have stamped your passport when you arrive. Without a stamp, your stay can become irregular without you knowing it.
  • According to the French consulate, a tourist stay cannot go beyond 3 consecutive months in any 6-month period.

After 90 days

As an exception, you can ask the immigration services for an extension of up to 3 months. No official fee or processing time is published.

Leaving the country and coming back (the "visa run" to Spain or Ceuta) is common. No text clearly allows it or forbids it, and the 3-months-in-6 rule works against repeated trips. You cannot live in Morocco this way.

Staying longer than allowed is punished under Law 02-03: a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 DH and/or 1 to 6 months in prison, with a risk of expulsion.

Staying longer: the residence card

After 3 months, you need a residence card (carte d'immatriculation). You renew it every year until you get a 10-year permit. The details are in our Morocco residence card guide.

Two things to know:

  • Morocco does not recognise unmarried couples. An unmarried partner without a salaried job cannot get a residence card.
  • A child who lives in Morocco for more than 3 months needs an individual travel document issued by the DGSN. To get it, one parent must already hold a residence permit.

Registering with the consulate

Registering on the Register of French Nationals Abroad is free, optional and valid for 5 years. You do it online on Service-Public.fr. It helps with passports, elections, school grants and residence certificates.

The Consulate General of France in Marrakech is on rue Camille Cabana, in Hivernage.

Banking

A foreigner can open a foreign currency account or a convertible dirham account, whether resident or not. Once you are tax resident, you can also open an ordinary dirham account. The details are in our guide to opening a bank account in Morocco.

Healthcare

When you leave, you are no longer covered by French Social Security and you hand back your carte Vitale. The French state does not pay for your care abroad, and hospitals can ask you to pay before you are discharged. So you need health insurance that includes repatriation.

Your options:

  • Retired under the French pension system: thanks to the France-Morocco agreement, you can be covered by Morocco's CNSS. Ask your pension fund for form SE 350-07, then register in person at the CNSS.
  • Employed by a Moroccan company: you are covered by the AMO through the CNSS. It pays back about 70% of the national reference rate.
  • Caisse des Français de l'Étranger (CFE): plans from €46 to €147 a month depending on the plan, with no medical questionnaire. There is no waiting period if you join before you leave or within 3 months of arriving.
  • Private insurance: local or international, often on top of the CFE.

Tax residency

You are tax resident in Morocco if you meet just one of these criteria: a permanent home in Morocco, the centre of your economic interests in Morocco, or more than 183 days in Morocco over 365 days. A resident declares all their income in Morocco. The details are in our France-Morocco tax residency guide.

Moving your belongings

According to the international movers' guide (FIDI), personal belongings you have owned for more than 6 months come in free of customs duty. New items are taxed. You need a change of residence certificate and a valued inventory in French or Arabic. No official text from Moroccan customs sets out these rules for foreigners.

Bringing your car

A car registered abroad comes in under temporary admission, with insurance that is valid in Morocco. It can stay 6 months per calendar year, no more. To keep it longer, you have to clear it through customs (about 50% in duties, for a car under 5 years old). See our guide to exchanging a French driving licence in Morocco.

Bringing your pet

  • A microchip, fitted before the rabies vaccine.
  • A valid rabies vaccine, given at least 30 days before departure.
  • A health certificate from an official vet, signed in the days before departure.
  • To come back into the EU, your pet will need a rabies antibody test. Have it done in France before you leave: if it is done in Morocco, you face a 3-month wait.

These rules come from specialist sources: we could not consult any official ONSSA page.

What is not confirmed yet

  • The exact procedure, cost and processing time for an extension beyond 90 days.
  • Access to the AMO for self-employed people and for retirees not covered by the agreement.
  • The official customs rules for a foreigner's move.

Sources

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