An independent guide to Moroccan residency
Moving to Moroccois mostly paperwork.We know the paperwork.
Clear guidance for the carte de séjour. What it costs, how long it really takes, and what to hand the préfecture. No mystique, no fixers, no promises we can’t check.
Check your eligibility90 days
visa-free entry for most Western passports
1 year
the usual first card, then longer renewals
≈ £8 / yr
the card fee itself. Estimates throughout
Most people get ninety daysat the border. Residency iswhat you do with them.
Citizens of roughly seventy countries. Including the US, UK, EU and Canada. Enter Morocco without a visa and can stay ninety days. Inside that window you can apply for a carte de séjour: a residence card, usually issued for one year first, then renewed for longer. The process runs through the police préfecture of the city you live in. It is bureaucratic, sometimes slow, and entirely doable.
The ninety-day clock starts at the passport stamp, not when you decide to stay.
The card fee is modest. Most of the real cost sits in translations and legalised documents.
Every figure on this site is an estimate from recent applicants. Not a quote, not legal advice.
Pathways
Four ways in.
Every residency case runs on one of a few legal bases. Find the one that matches how you actually earn.
What to expect
The shape ofthe process.
Step 1
Arrive and settle
Enter on your ninety days. Rent somewhere long-term. The lease is the anchor document of your entire file, and the préfecture that processes you is decided by the address on it.
Step 2
File at the préfecture
Submit your file before the ninety days run out. You leave with a récépissé, a dated receipt that keeps you legal while the card is processed. Most of the waiting happens here.
Step 3
Hold the card, renew it
The first carte de séjour usually runs one year. Renewals stretch longer. Five, then ten. Somewhere around the second renewal, you stop thinking about it.
Money
What the paperworkactually costs.
Estimates from recent applicants, for the file itself. They vary by préfecture and by your country of origin, so treat them as a planning range. Our own fee is separate and published in full.
What we chargeResidence card fee
about £8. The cheap part
≈ 100 MAD / year of validity
Sworn translations
French or Arabic, per page
£15–30 per document
Home-country paperwork
police record, apostilles, postage
£40–120
Medical certificate
from any local doctor
£25–50
A typical complete file
excluding rent and travel
£150–£400 all-in
The checker
Six questions.An honest answer.
Nationality, age, income, work, family, timing. The checker maps them to the pathway that actually fits. With the costs and waiting times nobody prints on the brochure.
Start the checkerAlready working with us? Start your onboarding.