One of the items requested in the residence permit application is your bank statement.
It is very important if you are applying for a residence permit without having a source of income in Morocco (domiciliation of your pension, salary, business) or without being the spouse of a Moroccan.
Morocco requires 100,000 dirhams from a bank account
This is because you are required to have enough money in the account to support yourself for a year.
Until now, the Moroccan authorities estimated the amount at between 4,000 and 6,000 dirhams per month, depending on the town where you live, i.e. 48,000 to 72,000 dirhams.
In recent months, this amount has risen sharply, to 100,000 dirhams, or 8,350 dirhams per month (the first residence permit is always given for one year only).
That’s well above the minimum wage, of course (just under 3,000 dirhams net), but it’s barely enough in big cities like Casablanca. And it’s considerably less than an average executive’s salary. A junior consultant starts at around 10-12,000 dirhams net, while an experienced executive will easily have a salary of around 30,000 dirhams.
In any case, compared to inflation, this increase, the first in a long time, is not shocking.
In practice, how do you go about it?
You start by opening your non-resident bank account (this is possible, of course, and if the bank gives you any problems, explain that you are in the process of applying for your residence permit).
As you are a non-resident, this will be a convertible dirham account, which can only receive foreign currency funds.
Once you have paid the 100,000 dirhams and obtained your certified bank statement, you can empty your account if you wish. You can even send the money abroad, since it is in convertible dirhams (but this will cost you in transfer and exchange fees).
You can also use this money to pay the application fee of 1,000 dirhams.
What about renewals?
Until now, when applying for renewal request, the Moroccan authorities did not ask for more than the amount needed for one year’s life, even if the card was extended to two years, then five years and finally ten years.
But you never know… It is therefore worthwhile domiciling your sources of income in Morocco, whatever they may be (unless, of course, you are a millionaire and this amount is negligible for you), or even setting up a local business. Renewing your residence permit will be that much easier.
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