To visit Morocco for up to three months at a time those who herald from the UK, European mainland, North America or Australasia for example are exempted from having to obtain a visa.  The only requirements are that the individual’s passport is valid for at least six months from the date of entry into Morocco; however for those expats planning on living and working in Morocco visa requirements differ slightly.

Those who are moving to live more permanently in Morocco usually enter on a traveller’s visa and then apply for an extension or a residents permit.  To get a permit to reside in Morocco more permanently it’s necessary to visit immigration authorities at the main police station in the city or district in which the individual is residing.  It will be necessary to provide a valid reason for wishing to remain in Morocco such as having been offered a specific job for example. 

Please note however that there are relatively strict guidelines as to the professions in which foreign individuals can work in Morocco and the level of experience or qualifications that they need to have to be allowed to stay and take up a specific offer of employment.  This is largely due to the fact that the government of Morocco has a policy of enabling its citizens to find employment and if a given job offered to a foreigner could be filled by a local person then a work permit or residents permit may be refused.

The desirability of Morocco as a country in which to live, work and even grow old is growing; the nation is one of the most liberalised, westernised and tolerant of all Islamic countries and its citizens generally have a positive view of the future and embrace international citizens and the influences that they have on Morocco.  Foreign direct investment is flooding into the country, most notably into real estate from GCC nations, and the level of tourism numbers taking extended vacations in Morocco of seven or more days is increasing sharply annually.

The fact that you can now find single local and expatriate women happily living and working in Morocco just goes to prove how liberal and open the country is.  It is basically a safe location (apart from a certain amount of pickpocket and petty thievery behaviour in the most popular tourism hangouts).  The main cities and areas where expatriates live and work are Casablanca, Tangier, Rabat, Agadir and Marrakech and the employment fields in which they find jobs are incredibly diverse.

There are voluntary and aid agencies working in the fields of education, social welfare and the environment for example, there is a vast array of teaching jobs from TEFL to lecturing at universities and those with Arabic of French language skills can find jobs in any major profession in Morocco from medicine to media.

Families based in Morocco have the option of sending their children to any one of a large number of excellent international schools where the curricular taught range from British to American to French and the accessibility of Morocco is increasing rapidly which means the nation is opening up to welcome more and more international citizens.