Leaving from Belgium?To the Belgian plan →See the plan for Belgians moving to Morocco →This plan is for people leaving the Netherlands.
Morocco · Visa required
Emigrating to Morocco
To move to Morocco, you apply for a residence card within ninety days of entry. If you also hold Moroccan nationality, you fall outside the aliens law and don't need one. Also watch the tax treaty: for your pension it works out differently from what almost every page says. This page shows how it really works.
€ 399 one-off · 33 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Residence card, or none if you're also Moroccan
- The clock
- Lodge the application within 90 days of entry
- Note
- Your government pension may be taxed in both states
Last updated: 14 October 2026
Will your departure date work? Check it in the free step-by-step plan →
Five phases, from the passport question to the land check
This journey has two routes, depending on your passport, and three deadlines. Your residence application must be lodged within ninety days. Your goods are supposed to come in a single shipment, or in two within six months of the date on your change-of-residence certificate. And you may still drive on your Dutch licence for a year. On top of that there's the treaty of 1977. It works out more favourably than most, provided you know which part of your income falls under it and which part doesn't.
- Orientation
First the passport question, then the rest
In this phase you find out which route applies to you, and how healthcare and tax really work out there. Law 02-03 is the Moroccan aliens law: it regulates the residence of foreigners. If you hold Moroccan nationality alongside the Dutch, you aren't a foreigner. You then walk a completely different journey: no residence card, no renewal clock, and with property no ban on agricultural land. That nationality passes by descent and cannot be given up. So many Dutch people have it without knowing for sure.Read more
- Your right of residence
Ninety days to lodge, not to have it settled
In this phase you apply for your residence card, the carte d'immatriculation. As a foreigner you do that with the police or the gendarmerie of your place of residence, within ninety days of entry. The deadline is for lodging, not for issue. That helps, because gathering the documents takes more time than ninety days suggests. The card is valid one to ten years and states why you're in Morocco. Pensioners get the mention visiteur. Whoever is also Moroccan instead arranges their Moroccan identity card. That can take months if the parents' certificates are missing.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
One missing treaty article decides your monthly income
In this phase you arrange your tax and your healthcare before you leave. The tax treaty of 1977 has no social security article, the article that decides where benefits such as the AOW are taxed. Your AOW therefore falls under the residual article and may be taxed only by Morocco, just like your occupational pension. Your government pension is the exception: it may be taxed in both states. So whoever has ABP isn't done with one exemption application. Apply for the wage tax exemption before you leave. Arrange healthcare through the CAK, because Morocco is a treaty country. And decide on the eighty percent reduction before your first transfer. That reduction only applies to money that has been transferred to Morocco definitively.Read more
- The move
The goods may come along free, the car almost never
In this phase you move your household goods, and you decide about the car and the pet. Your goods enter the country exempt, provided you can produce a detailed inventory and a certificat de changement de résidence (a change-of-residence certificate), or another document establishing the move. The main rule is a single shipment. Two are allowed too, but then within six months of the date on that certificate. The car is the opposite. Admission temporaire (temporary admission) gives six months without paying import duties, even if you settle. After that the car has to leave the country, or you import it definitively. That is generally only possible for a car under five years old, and costs import duty and VAT on the new value. So count on selling and buying again. The pet has the longest clock of the journey. There the order matters more than the time: the chip must come before the vaccination.Read more
- Arrival in Morocco
Address, card, bank, and only then the home
In this phase you arrange your residence card, your bank, your healthcare and your driving licence in Morocco, and perhaps a home of your own. Everything starts with your proof of address. Without it no residence card, and without a residence card or identity card no bank. Then you activate your healthcare: with the CAK form you actually register. You sort your driving licence within the year. That is how long you may drive on your Dutch licence, and no longer. If you're going to buy, one check comes before everything: the designation of the plot at the land registry. A foreigner may not acquire agricultural land, not even with a house on it. Whoever is also Moroccan falls outside that ban.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the journey to Morocco, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 1.1 of your plan
First determine which route applies to you
- Lead time
- reading step, but sometimes an application at the consulate
- Costs
- none, unless you need your Moroccan papers established
With this step you know which journey you're on. That depends on your nationality: do you hold Moroccan nationality alongside the Dutch?
Law 02-03 is the Moroccan aliens law. It regulates the entry and residence of foreigners. If you also hold Moroccan nationality, you are not a foreigner in Morocco and you fall outside that law. Then for you:
- You don't need a carte d'immatriculation, the Moroccan residence card.
- There's no renewal clock: you don't have to renew a card on time.
- There's no mention of purpose, the note on the card of why you're in Morocco.
That distinction is not theoretical. Moroccan nationality passes by descent, and you cannot give it up. So many Dutch people have it without ever having done anything with it. For them this journey starts with applying for or renewing the Moroccan identity card, not with a residence application.
Not sure whether you hold Moroccan nationality? Then find that out first, before everything else. The rest of this plan turns out differently depending on the answer. The Moroccan consulate can establish whether you're in the registers.
What this step rests on
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Morocco.
This is step 1.1 of 35. The other 34 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 35 steps for MoroccoWhat you get for € 399
All 35 steps to Morocco, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Morocco
€ 399
one-off · 35 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
- Destination changes? Within 30 days I switch your plan to another country free of charge
- Stuck on a step? You get a personal answer within two working days
What will your move to Morocco cost? Work it out →
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Morocco: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Morocco change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Morocco? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Morocco starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Morocco
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- AOW, pension and tax in Morocco: the treaty is missing one articleThe tax treaty with Morocco has no social security article. As a result your AOW falls under the residual article and goes exclusively to Morocco, just like your occupational pension. Your government pension is the exception: it may be taxed in both states. And the Moroccan eighty percent reduction belongs to money that can't leave the country anymore.
- Healthcare in Morocco: the treaty route through the CAKMorocco is on the official list of treaty countries. Pensioners with a Dutch statutory pension register with the CAK and get access to the Moroccan system through a treaty form, for a treaty contribution — so no lifelong private policy. What exactly that entitlement covers, and why where you live decides what it's worth to you.
- The residence routes to Morocco: one question comes before all the othersWhether you need a residence card in Morocco depends not on your plans but on your passport. Whoever also holds Moroccan nationality falls outside the aliens law and needs no carte d'immatriculation. Whoever doesn't lodges an application within ninety days of entry — and the clock runs on lodging, not on issue.
- Working in Morocco: the visa on your contract, the tax and the route as a freelancerWorking as an employee in Morocco is possible, but your employer needs a permit that is placed as a visa on your employment contract, and your contract only takes effect on the date of that visa. Whoever works in Morocco is also insured there and pays income tax there, from 0 to 37 percent. And whoever comes as a visiteur has promised not to exercise a profession that needs a permit.
- School in Morocco: the French schools, what they cost and the admission round that opens in JanuaryMost Dutch children in Morocco go to one of the 44 French schools, and those have one admission round a year: online, from early January to mid-March, with the result in April. Count on 30,000 dirhams in enrolment fees and 50,000 to 61,000 dirhams in school fees a year. There is no Dutch school, and the child benefit stops.
- Bringing a pet to Morocco: the chip must come before the vaccinationThe order matters more here than the lead time, and that's exactly where it goes wrong. If the rabies vaccination is registered before the chip, your file isn't right and you have a problem at the border. Further: twenty-one days' wait after the first jab, a certificate within twenty-four hours before loading, and a titre test if you want to travel back and forth with the animal.
All 13 articles about Morocco
- Your household goods to Morocco: the papers, and the car that usually doesn't come
- Banking and payments in Morocco: three kinds of account, and why they must be at one bank
- Buying a house in Morocco: first the land, then the home
- Renting in Morocco: a written contract, two months' deposit and three years of the same rent
- Your first weeks in Morocco: ninety days, one order, and the bank you cannot choose again later
- Your driving licence in Morocco: one year of driving, then an exam, and starting again with twenty points
- Residence card and numbers in Morocco: the card, the CNIE and the address the tax office uses
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Morocco: 35 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.