Living and Working in Morocco

Costs in Morocco vary widely by city: Casablanca and Rabat are the most expensive, Marrakech sits at an intermediate level, and mid-sized cities offer a lower cost of living. Housing, local food and personal services weigh comparatively little in a budget funded by a foreign income; imported goods and electronics, by contrast, are priced closer to international levels. For any costing, primary sources are more reliable than online aggregators whose data can be dated: the Haut-Commissariat au Plan publishes the consumer price index, and Bank Al-Maghrib publishes the official exchange rates of the dirham.

To estimate your real purchasing power by city and income, use the net salary calculator.

Morocco belongs to neither the European Union nor the Schengen area and runs its own visa policy, so the rule that applies at the border depends on your passport. Three cases exist. Nationals of states covered by a visa exemption enter without a visa for a short stay: the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office states that British citizens can visit Morocco without a visa for up to 90 days for tourism, Global Affairs Canada states that Canadians need no tourist, business or student visa for stays of less than 90 days, and the German Federal Foreign Office states that German citizens need no visa for tourist and business stays of up to 90 days. A second group applies online for an electronic visa: India's Ministry of External Affairs, for instance, lists Morocco among the countries whose e-Visa facility is open to Indian ordinary passport holders. Everyone else applies for a visa at the Moroccan embassy or consulate covering their country of residence before traveling. The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs an official platform, acces-maroc.ma, for checking visa-exemption eligibility and lodging e-visa applications, and Moroccan diplomatic missions direct travelers to verify their position there before applying. Passport rules also differ by government: the British advisory asks for an expiry date at least three months after arrival and for making sure the border official stamps the passport, while Global Affairs Canada requires validity of at least six months beyond the expected departure date and the German advisory requires at least six months of validity at the time of entry. Two points hold in every case: a short stay does not permit gainful employment, which requires a separate authorization, and staying beyond 90 days moves you into the residence-permit regime described below.

Staying longer changes the regime. Entry and residence are governed by Law no. 02-03 of 11 November 2003 on the entry and stay of foreigners in the Kingdom of Morocco. Whatever your nationality, a stay of more than 90 days requires registering with the police and applying for a residence permit, the carte d'immatriculation (registration card). In cities, applications are filed with the Bureau des Étrangers of the Préfecture de Police or the Commissariat Central; in rural areas, with the Gendarmerie. There are eight categories of permit, and first-time applicants provide, among other documents, a criminal-record check from their country of origin, a medical certificate and a statement from a Moroccan bank; a provisional receipt (récépissé) covers the wait while the card is produced. Overstaying has consequences: Global Affairs Canada reports that a person who remains beyond the 90-day limit is kept in the country until seen by a prosecutor and fined. Bilateral agreements improve the terms for some nationalities: under the Franco-Moroccan agreement of 9 October 1987, in force since 1 January 1994, French nationals coming to work receive a one-year renewable residence title marked 'salarié', and after three years of regular residence they may apply for a ten-year residence title, the application being decided in light of their professional activity and means of existence.

Registration-card formalities and document lists change at the administrative level, so the practical reference points are the local police services, the Moroccan consulate covering your country of residence and, for eligibility questions before travel, the official acces-maroc.ma platform. Anyone intending to work needs the employment authorization described in the next section before taking up a post.

The Moroccan job market is concentrated around identified hubs: automotive and aerospace (Tangier, Kenitra, Casablanca), services and customer-relation centers, finance in Casablanca, tourism and hospitality in Marrakech, agri-industry and renewable energy. French is widely used in the professional world, alongside Arabic (Darija in speech) and, increasingly, English in international sectors.

For a foreign employee, the employer must in principle obtain a work authorization from the Ministry of Labor, accompanied for most positions by an ANAPEC certificate confirming the absence of an available Moroccan candidate. Some situations benefit from exemptions (companies with Casablanca Finance City status are notably exempt from the ANAPEC certification procedure).

To gauge a salary by sector and city, see the net salary calculator.

The most common form is the SARL. Its capital is set freely by the partners, with no legal minimum, and the company can be 100% foreign-owned in most sectors (excluding regulated activities such as banking or insurance). Formation formalities go through the Regional Investment Center (CRI), which acts as a one-stop shop: reserving the company name with the OMPIC, filing the articles of association, registering with the commercial register, and social and tax registrations.

For a small individual activity, the auto-entrepreneur status (Law 114-13) provides a flat, final tax on collected turnover: 1% for services and 0.5% for commercial and industrial activities, within annual ceilings of MAD 200,000 for services and MAD 500,000 for trade. For service providers, a specific rule applies: when annual turnover with a single client exceeds MAD 80,000, the excess is subject to a 30% withholding at source, operated by that client, designed to frame situations of disguised employment. This withholding applies only to the surplus above MAD 80,000.

For corporate income tax, the standard rate is set, for financial years opening on or after January 1, 2026, at 20% for companies whose net taxable profit is below MAD 100,000,000, and at 35% from MAD 100,000,000 (40% for credit institutions and insurance companies).

A company-formation project is best framed with a qualified professional to choose the structure suited to the situation.

Foreign nationals may freely acquire built property and urban building land (apartments, houses, commercial premises), under ordinary-law procedures (notary, land registry). Acquisition of agricultural land by foreign nationals is, by contrast, prohibited in principle, save for an exemption.

To preserve the ability to later transfer rents or resale proceeds out of Morocco, the investment must be financed in foreign currency, which places it under the convertibility regime run by the Office des Changes (Morocco's foreign-exchange authority). Under its general foreign-exchange instruction, banks may then transfer income and sale or liquidation proceeds abroad, on presentation of the required supporting documents and after payment of the taxes due.

Registration duties on the purchase of a home come to 4% of the price for built premises (article 133 of the General Tax Code). Since July 1, 2026, an additional 2% registration duty applies, for transactions whose price exceeds MAD 300,000, to the portion of the price paid in cash or by a non-traceable means of payment (article 133-III, introduced by the 2026 finance law); it does not apply to amounts settled through the means the tax code admits, such as a bank transfer or a crossed non-endorsable check. Notary fees and land-registry costs are added to this.

A discussion with a notary or a qualified professional helps secure an acquisition.

Tax residence in Morocco is assessed against criteria of permanent home, center of economic interests and length of presence (more than 183 days within any 365-day period). Residents are taxable on their worldwide income, non-residents on their Moroccan-source income only. Income tax follows a progressive scale: the band up to MAD 40,000 is exempt, then 10% up to MAD 60,000, 20% up to MAD 80,000, 30% up to MAD 100,000, 34% up to MAD 180,000 and a marginal 37% above MAD 180,000 (scale in force in 2026, set by the 2025 finance law). The standard VAT rate is 20%.

Cross-border tax matters run through Morocco's treaty network: about fifty double taxation agreements, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and France. Not every country is covered (Australia and New Zealand, for instance, are not among the treaty partners), so the instrument that matters is the one, if any, between Morocco and your own country of tax residence. As a general rule under these conventions, a private-source pension is taxable in the beneficiary's country of residence, while a public-source pension remains in principle taxable in the paying state. Separately, Morocco has signed 19 bilateral social security conventions, 15 of them in force, administered on the Moroccan side by the CNSS, with partners including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada and Quebec; whether contribution periods add up and a pension can be paid across borders depends on whether your country is covered. Any personal situation (retirement, mixed income, assets) is best examined with a qualified professional.

The living framework includes legal elements worth knowing. Moroccan law governs public expression concerning the monarchy; in a professional setting, it is customary to avoid the subject. The question of the Sahara is politically sensitive and is likewise customarily left out of professional conversation. During Ramadan, Moroccan law penalizes the public breaking of the fast by people of Muslim faith; non-Muslims are not bound by it, and both the British and Canadian government advisories ask visitors to refrain from eating, drinking or smoking in public in daytime during this period. Alcohol is sold in licensed establishments and shops and is intended for non-Muslims. Personal and family status falls under the Family Code (Moudawana, 2004). Relations between people of the same sex are an offence under Moroccan law, a point the British and Canadian government advisories both state. Any personal situation falling under these frameworks is a matter for a qualified professional.