In short
- Enter Morocco on a passport valid for your whole stay. A French national ID card alone is no longer accepted (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026).
- A tourist stay cannot exceed three consecutive months in any six-month period. To stay longer, you need a residence card (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025).
- In Marrakech, the answer on your card usually comes within 5 weeks to 3 months. Nobody can promise a date.
- In year one, plan for your driving licence, your French-registered car and your Moroccan tax return.
Before you leave: the papers to gather in France
Start early. Some papers can only be requested from France, and they are much easier to get before you go.
Your passport
This is the only document that counts at the border. It must be valid for your whole planned stay. Entry on a French national ID card alone is no longer possible (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026). If your passport expires within the year, renew it before you leave.
Your criminal record certificate
For a first residence card, our residence card guide (in French) found that you are asked for a criminal record certificate from your home country, less than 3 months old. Request it just before you leave, so it is still valid on the day you apply.
Your birth certificate with an apostille
We ask every client for one. In France, since 1 May 2025, apostilles come from notaries. You apply online and receive an electronic apostille to download. For an individual, it costs €10 excluding VAT per document at normal speed (3 working days), or €20 excluding VAT per document within 24 hours, for the first 3 documents. The price drops from the 4th document (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 1 Sept 2025).
Health cover
When you move outside the European Union, you leave the French social security system and must give back your carte Vitale. You can join the CFE, the optional French health fund for people living abroad (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 11 Jan 2023). Many people add a private policy on top. If you are retired, also read "Depending on your situation" below.
Tax when you leave France
Tell your tax office your new address abroad, through the secure messaging in your online account. In April or May of the next year, you declare on form 2042 your income from 1 January to your departure date. If you keep French-source income after you leave, it goes on form 2042-NR (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 15 April 2026). Our guide on tax residence between France and Morocco (in French) has the details.
The register of French nationals abroad
Registering is free, optional and valid for 5 years. Online is the recommended way. It helps with ID documents, voting from Morocco and school grants, and it lets the consulate reach you in an emergency (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 29 Sept 2025). Online, you need proof of a Moroccan address (a lease or a recent bill), so you will do it once you are there.
Keep a paper folder and a digital copy of everything. The police, the bank and your landlord will ask for the same papers again and again.
On arrival: the 90-day clock
When you land, you must be able to show your return ticket and proof that you have enough money to live on (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026). Keep them in your hand luggage.
The border police then stamp your passport. Check the stamp before you leave the desk. Without it, you may be staying illegally without knowing it (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026).
That stamp starts your clock. A tourist stay cannot exceed three consecutive months in any six-month period (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025). Beyond that, you need a residence card.
You can ask the Moroccan immigration service for an extension of up to three months, but only in exceptional cases (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026). Do not build your move on it, or on leaving and coming back every three months.
An irregular stay is punished with a fine and expulsion with a ban on returning (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026). Our guide on moving abroad to Morocco (in French) explains the rules in detail.
The first month: housing, bank, residence certificate
In your first month, you gather what the police and the bank will ask for: an address first, then a bank account.
Housing and proof of address
Many people start with a rental of a few weeks while they choose a neighbourhood. For the paperwork, you then need real proof of address, such as a lease or a water or electricity bill in your name. Each bank sets its own list. To choose where to live, see our Marrakech neighbourhood guide (in French).
A bank account
A foreigner, resident or not, can open a foreign-currency account or a convertible-dirham account (Office des Changes, consulted 5 Nov 2026). The residence card file usually includes a Moroccan bank certificate, so open the account before you apply. Account types, documents and fees are in our guide to opening a bank account in Morocco (in French).
The residence certificate
This Moroccan document (certificat de résidence) confirms that you live at an address. Our driving licence guide (in French) lists it among the documents for exchanging your licence. Plan for it once your long-term home is settled.
Within 90 days: the residence card
If you are staying more than 3 months, apply for your residence card (carte de séjour) before your 3 months as a tourist run out. The earlier, the better.
You make your first application in person, at the central police station, the police prefecture or the Royal Gendarmerie where you live. The officers tell you there which documents to bring (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025).
No official list is published online. Our guide lists the documents most often asked for:
- the application form;
- copies of your passport pages;
- several recent passport photos;
- proof of address;
- a criminal record certificate from your home country, less than 3 months old;
- a medical certificate issued in Morocco;
- a Moroccan bank certificate;
- papers that fit your case (employment contract, marriage certificate…).
Ask the counter to confirm this list before you put your file together.
The card depends on proof of sufficient resources (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025). No official amount is published.
In Marrakech, the answer usually comes within 5 weeks to 3 months. There is no legal deadline, and nobody can promise you a date.
Card types and the points that are still unclear are in our Morocco residence card guide (in French).
The first year: licence, car, tax, renewal
Once you have your card, four things come up during the year.
Your driving licence
To keep driving in Morocco long term, you exchange your French licence for a Moroccan one. Our guide to exchanging a French driving licence in Morocco (in French) names the body in charge (NARSA, the national road safety agency) and the documents. It also explains the ADCS, the French certificate of your driving entitlement to download before you leave, and lists the open questions.
A French-registered car
It enters under temporary admission. You make a declaration at the border post where you arrive, and your insurance (green card) must cover Morocco. If it does not, you buy border insurance at the desks there. A car that has spent 6 months in Morocco can no longer use this scheme in the same calendar year (French consulate in Morocco, 20 Oct 2025).
Your Moroccan tax return
If you become a Moroccan tax resident, you declare your income in Morocco every year. Holding a residence card and being a tax resident are two separate things, with different criteria. Read our guide on tax residence between France and Morocco (in French) before you fill anything in, and ask your accountant for that year's deadline.
Renewing your card
The card is renewed every year until you get a 10-year card (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025). For renewals, you need a Moroccan criminal record certificate. You can request it online, or have someone with an official power of attorney request it for you (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025). Note your card's expiry date as soon as you receive it, and start the renewal well before.
Depending on your situation: retired, employed, family
You are retired
Your card depends on your resources: our residence card guide (in French) explains which one to ask for. For health, a retiree with a French pension and no rights under the Moroccan scheme can be covered by Morocco's CNSS through that French pension. Ask the body that pays your pension, such as the CNAV, for form SE 350-07 (CLEISS, consulted 5 Nov 2026). For budgets, see our guide on the cost of living in Marrakech for a retired couple (in French).
You are coming to work
If you are moving for a job, your employment contract is one of the papers that fit your case in the residence card file. Our guide on moving abroad to Morocco (in French) covers work and health.
You are moving as a family
Each child needs their own valid passport. A birth certificate or the livret de famille, to prove the parent-child link, is recommended (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026). To live in Morocco, a minor also needs a travel document issued by the DGSN, Morocco's national police, and it depends on one parent's residence card (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025).
Marrakech has two AEFE French schools: Lycée Victor-Hugo and Groupe scolaire Jacques-Majorelle (AEFE, consulted 5 Nov 2026). Applications are online only. For the 2026-2027 school year, the window ran from 5 January to 11 March 2026 (EFM, consulted 5 Nov 2026). Our guide to French schools in Marrakech (in French) gives the calendar and fees.
What BAB does for you
If you would rather have a team on the ground handle all this, our Settle packs follow this timeline for you, at a fixed price. Each pack has its own page, in French for now.
- Settle Solo, €1,490 (in French): residency card file prepared and accompanied, bank account, long-term flat search and contract check, internet and utilities, doctor and insurance setup, driving licence exchange.
- Settle Family, €2,290 (in French): Settle Solo for the whole household, plus a school shortlist and applications.
- Settle Retiree, €1,790 (in French): Settle Solo, plus tax residency and pension transfer setup with a partner accountant.
- Discover Marrakech, €490 + housing fee (in French): to try before you decide. A verified flat for 1 to 3 months, airport pickup, a local SIM card, a half-day neighbourhood tour and a cost of living briefing.
Every Settle pack includes 3 months of BAB Club. In the app, you see each step, who handles it (you, BAB or the administration) and where it stands. We never promise anything the administration controls. We follow up every week and tell you where your file is. Our team works in French and English, and you can also start from our English home page.
Frequently asked questions
How long before the move should I start?
No official source gives a figure. Work back from your papers. An apostille on your birth certificate takes 3 working days at normal speed (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 1 Sept 2025), and you can renew your passport well ahead. Your criminal record certificate must be less than 3 months old when you apply for the residence card, according to our guide, so request it last.
Can I move to Morocco with my ID card?
No. You need a passport valid for your whole stay. Entering Morocco on a French national ID card alone is no longer possible (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026).
Do French citizens need a visa for Morocco?
To enter, the French Foreign Ministry asks for a passport valid for your whole stay, a return ticket and proof of funds. The stay is limited to three months, 90 days exactly (diplomatie.gouv.fr, 15 Sept 2026). To stay longer, you do not apply for a visa: you apply for a residence card in Morocco, at the police station or the gendarmerie (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025).
Can an unmarried couple move together?
This is the trickiest point. Morocco does not recognise unmarried partnerships. An unmarried partner without a job cannot get a residence card or stay more than three consecutive months (French consulate in Morocco, 8 Oct 2025). In practice, each partner needs to qualify for their own card, with their own resources or their own job.
Do I need a lawyer?
For the residence card, you apply in person at the police station, and none of the official pages cited here require a lawyer. For a big tax decision (a public-sector pension, property in France), have your case checked by a lawyer or chartered accountant.
What is not confirmed yet
- How long before the move to start: no official source gives a figure.
- The exact document list at the Marrakech counter: only the officers give it, and it can change.
- How many years of legal residence the 10-year card requires: sources disagree.
- The deadline for the Moroccan tax return: sources do not all give the same date.
- The residence card response time: there is no legal deadline. The 5 weeks to 3 months range comes from people's experience in Marrakech.
Rules change often, especially on tax and procedures. This guide gives practical information, not legal or tax advice.
Sources
- Travel advice Morocco, entry and stay (diplomatie.gouv.fr), updated 15/09/2026
- Residence permit (French consulate in Morocco), updated 08/10/2025
- Vehicles (French consulate in Morocco), updated 20/10/2025
- Legalisation or apostille of a French public document (service-public.gouv.fr), checked 01/09/2025
- Health insurance for French people living abroad (service-public.gouv.fr), checked 11/01/2023
- Income tax when you move abroad (service-public.gouv.fr), checked 15/04/2026
- Register of French nationals abroad (service-public.gouv.fr), checked 29/09/2025
- Foreign-currency and convertible-dirham accounts (Office des Changes), consulted 05/11/2026
- Retirees in Morocco (CLEISS), consulted 05/11/2026
- AEFE school directory, Marrakech (AEFE), consulted 05/11/2026
- Admissions (Enseignement français au Maroc), consulted 05/11/2026
Each step in detail, with all its sources, is in our guides (in French): residence card, moving abroad to Morocco, bank account, driving licence, tax residence, French schools, cost of living for retirees, Marrakech neighbourhoods.
Let's talk about your move
Not sure where to start, or your situation is a bit unusual? The call is free and takes 20 minutes. You come away with your next steps, in the right order. Message us on WhatsApp at +212 644 678 783.