Living and Working in Tunisia

For someone living on foreign-source income, day-to-day costs in Tunisia, from food to services, tend to be moderate, and a foreign income can go further here. That advantage depends on a volatile factor: the Tunisian dinar moves against the euro, the US dollar and sterling, so a budget drawn up in one year has to be rechecked in the next. For any costing, primary sources are more reliable than online aggregators whose data can be dated: the Institut National de la Statistique publishes the consumer price index, and the Banque Centrale de Tunisie publishes the official exchange rates.

The hub cities offer distinct profiles. Tunis, the capital, concentrates public administration, company head offices, the offshoring sector and cultural life, with a tighter housing market. Sousse and Hammamet, on the coast, combine tourism with a seaside setting popular with foreign residents. Djerba, an island, has a marked seasonality and a property market oriented toward tourism. The choice of city affects the budget as much as the pace of life and access to healthcare, banking and international schooling.

A scouting stay, outside the high tourist season, makes it possible to compare rent and service levels concretely from one city to another before committing.

Tunisia 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. Under article 5 of Law no. 68-7 of 8 March 1968 on the condition of foreigners, the default is that every foreigner presents on entry a valid national passport or travel document bearing a visa issued by a Tunisian consular authority. Article 7 sets out the exception: nationals of states that have concluded a visa-abolition convention with Tunisia are exempt from the entry and residence visa for three months. Three months is the statutory baseline, but the period actually granted follows each bilateral agreement, and the governments concerned publish their own figures. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office states that British passport holders can visit without a visa for up to 90 days. Global Affairs Canada states that Canadians need no tourist, business or student visa for stays of 90 days or less. The US Department of State states that US citizens need no visa for stays of 90 days or less, and that a residence permit is required beyond 90 days. The German Federal Foreign Office publishes 120 days for tourist, private or business stays, with an overstay fee of 20 TND per five-day period settled on departure. The structure therefore runs to three cases rather than two: nationals covered by an exemption; holders of Crown Dependency passports, whom the FCDO records as possibly having to buy a visa on arrival; and everyone else, who applies to a Tunisian diplomatic or consular mission before travelling. For that last group, Decree no. 68-198 of 22 June 1968 provides that an entry visa states its period of use and an authorised stay that cannot exceed three months, while a transit visa allows seven days. India's Ministry of External Affairs lists Tunisia in none of its three tables of facilities open to Indian ordinary passport holders (visa-free, visa on arrival, e-visa), so Indian nationals fall under the article 5 default and apply to a Tunisian diplomatic or consular mission before travelling. Nationalities not named here are confirmed with the Tunisian mission covering the country of residence. Two points hold in every case: a short stay does not permit gainful employment, which is a separate authorisation, and the residence obligation set out below runs from three consecutive months whatever visa-free period the passport was granted on arrival.

Staying longer changes the regime. Article 9 of the 1968 law requires any foreigner present in Tunisia for more than three consecutive months, or more than six non-consecutive months in one year, to obtain a residence visa and a residence card, issued through the Interior Ministry services. Two tracks exist. The temporary residence card runs no longer than the residence visa behind it, which is itself capped at one year, and its renewal requires a new residence visa. The ordinary residence card is valid two years and renewable; article 13 opens it to foreigners born in Tunisia who have lived there without interruption, to those lawfully resident for five uninterrupted years, to foreign women married to Tunisian nationals, to parents of Tunisian children and to people who have rendered appreciable services to Tunisia. Since Decree no. 92-716 of 20 April 1992, the Interior Minister may also grant, exceptionally, a two-year renewable temporary residence visa, and a five-year renewable one to foreign business investors already resident in Tunisia for at least a year. An applicant has to show lawful entry and sufficient resources, and anyone intending to work or trade must produce the employment authorisation first. Tunisian law provides no dedicated remote-work or digital-nomad permit: people paid from abroad use the ordinary temporary residence route. Tunisia has hosted a long-settled foreign resident population, retirees, working-age residents and dual nationals among them, which is why French-language schooling, healthcare practices and resident associations are established in the hub cities.

The practical arrangements (documents to provide, timelines, competent offices) change at the administrative level, and the document lists are published by the SICAD public-service information portal and the Tunisian Interior Ministry services.

Article 8 of the 1968 law is categorical: no foreigner may exercise a profession or carry on a remunerated activity in Tunisia without authorisation from the competent ministry, and article 6 adds that anyone arriving to take up salaried work must present, alongside passport and visa, an employment contract drawn up under Tunisian labour rules. That authorisation comes from the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment, through its Direction Générale du Placement à l'Étranger et de la Main-d'Œuvre Étrangère in Tunis, and files can be lodged online. It takes one of two forms. A certificate of non-submission to the contract endorsement covers foreign nationals who are the employer, the manager or the legal representative with full powers, staff of companies eligible under Investment Law no. 2016-71 of 30 September 2016, staff under the hydrocarbons and mining codes, foreign experts working under cooperation or technical assistance agreements with the Tunisian government, and Moroccan nationals. Otherwise the employment contract itself has to be endorsed, the main categories being recruitment where no Tunisian counterpart exists in the specialism, foreign spouses of Tunisian nationals, supervisory staff beyond the investment-law limit, employees seconded from a parent company or under a partnership project, sport, hotels and travel agencies, international organisations and associations, shareholders and partners, and young-professional exchange schemes run under bilateral agreements with France and with Switzerland.

There is also a ceiling. Article 6 of the 2016 investment law lets a company recruit foreign executives up to 30% of its total executive headcount until the end of its third year, then 10% from the fourth year, with a floor of four foreign executives in every case; going beyond that requires a specific authorisation from the ministry in charge of employment under the Labour Code. The local labour market pays in dinars, on a salary scale specific to the country, which is why this guide speaks first to people paid from abroad, remote workers and independent professionals, along with retirees drawing a foreign pension. Where foreign nationals are recruited locally, it is mostly in the offshoring and shared-service sector, built largely on French-language customer support and back-office work, and in manufacturing and subcontracting, health, education and tourism. Arabic and French carry professional life, French remaining very present in services, public administration, education and much of the corporate sector; outside international teams, English alone covers only part of day-to-day professional exchanges.

For the pay scale by sector and hub city, see the Sectors and salaries section.

Tunisian law distinguishes residents from non-residents. Personal income tax (IRPP) is due from anyone whose habitual residence is in Tunisia, on their worldwide income; non-residents are taxed on their Tunisian-source income only. Habitual residence turns on two tests: holding your principal home in Tunisia, or, with a principal home abroad, being present in Tunisia continuously or in aggregate for at least 183 days in a calendar year. That definition determines the scope of taxation. One rule matters especially to people paid from abroad: under article 36 of the income tax code, foreign-source income that has already been taxed in the state of source is exempt in Tunisia.

The IRPP scale was overhauled by the Finance Law 2025 into eight progressive bands: 0% up to TND 5,000, 15% from TND 5,000 to 10,000, 25% from 10,000 to 20,000, 30% from 20,000 to 30,000, 33% from 30,000 to 40,000, 36% from 40,000 to 50,000, 38% from 50,000 to 70,000, and 40% above TND 70,000. A social solidarity contribution of 0.5% sits on top, held at 0.5% for 2026 by the Finance Law 2026 and set to rise to 1% from 2027. Employees on a Tunisian contract contribute 9.68% to social security and employers 17.07%, which opens cover with the national health insurance fund. VAT has a standard rate of 19% and reduced rates of 7% and 13%. Corporate tax has stood at 20% as a standard rate since the Finance Law 2025, with 10% for agriculture, fishing, crafts and certain cooperatives, 35% for telecoms, hydrocarbon services and certain distribution and investment activities, and 40% for banks, financial institutions, insurance and reinsurance. These rates are revised with each annual finance law.

Tunisia has a wide treaty network, close to fifty double taxation agreements, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, China, South Korea, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and France. Not every country is covered, so the instrument that matters is the one, if any, between Tunisia and your own country of tax residence. Alongside them, Tunisia has concluded 24 bilateral social security agreements, not all of them in force, which govern how a foreign pension is paid in Tunisia and how health cover opens. There is none with the United States: the Social Security Administration lists thirty totalisation agreements and Tunisia is not among them, so US entitlements do not carry across. The agreement with France has been in force since 2007, while the convention signed with Canada is not yet in force, pending completion of both countries' procedures. For the decision-making context, see the entry and residence rules, on which residence status depends.

Buying property as a foreign national is possible but regulated. For a home in an ordinary residential area, the foreign buyer must obtain the prior authorisation of the regional governor. The requirement is not a formality: it is imposed on pain of absolute nullity of the contract, and its legal basis is the decree of 4 June 1957 on real-estate transactions. In practice, a preliminary contract is signed subject to the administrative authorisations being obtained, and the application is then filed with the competent governor.

A carve-out exists for economic projects: the purchase or lease of land and built premises in industrial zones, and of land in tourist zones, intended for an economic project, falls outside the governor's authorisation. In the hub cities (Tunis, Sousse, Djerba, Hammamet), part of the tourist coastline comes under that regime, while ordinary housing remains subject to authorisation. Holding property also brings a wealth tax into view: it reaches real estate situated in Tunisia whatever the owner's country of residence and, for Tunisian tax residents, property situated abroad as well. It applies where net taxable assets reach TND 3 million on 1 January, at 0.5% between TND 3 million and TND 5 million and 1% above TND 5 million, the Finance Law 2026 having extended the base beyond real estate alone. The taxpayer's main home and property used for a professional activity are excluded from the base, and the Finance Law 2026 also excludes the furniture in the main home, going concerns actually operated, cars rated at 12 fiscal horsepower (CV) or less and funds deposited with banks, financial institutions or the Tunisian Post Office.

Observing the residence rules is a practical necessity rather than a formality. Article 23 of the 1968 law makes it an offence to enter or leave outside the authorised conditions, to fail to apply in time for a residence visa and card or their renewal, or to remain after they expire, with penalties running from one month to one year of imprisonment and a fine; in practice, overstays are also settled as fines on departure at the airport. Everyday obligations are easy to overlook: anyone lodging a foreigner, even free of charge, must notify the local police or National Guard post within 48 hours, anyone letting residential premises to a foreigner must do so within one week, a change of address must be declared to the post covering the new address within three days, and residence documents must be carried and produced on request. Tunisian authorities expect dual nationals holding Tunisian nationality to enter and leave on their Tunisian passport, and a dual national who enters on a foreign passport may still be required to produce a valid Tunisian passport to leave. Published passport-validity requirements differ from one government to another: the UK advisory asks only that the document cover the duration of the stay, while Global Affairs Canada requires at least six months' validity beyond the expected departure date. Confirming the requirement with the Tunisian mission covering your country settles the point.

Tunisian legislation includes provisions relating to public morals that are worth knowing about before a move. EXPATRIATION.IO makes no judgment on these frameworks and confines itself to noting that they exist. Informational prudence means checking the legislation in force through your own government's travel advisory and the Tunisian authorities, and taking specialised legal counsel for any personal decision. The same applies to regulatory change, which can arrive with a finance law or an administrative text from one year to the next.

Settling in Tunisia combines a Mediterranean setting and a multilingual working environment with an administrative framework to observe closely. By securing residence status, tax position and, where relevant, any property purchase in advance with qualified professionals, the newcomer lays the groundwork for a settled move.