USA Tourist Visa for my Moroccan Wife?

Hello saidgeek,

I think that your hunch is bang on. You're going to have a Herculean task trying to convince the USCIS that it really is the intention for your wife to return to Morocco. They're just going to see the application for a B1/B2 visa as a thinly disguised attempt to get around immigration laws and get into the country at all costs. They will certainly be looking at the marriage as a "marriage of convenience" for obtaining a visa.

I honestly think you'd be far better of in going the extra mile, as it were, and apply for the K-3 Nonimmigrant Visa for your wife. That will also give you both the option of being in the USA to hedge your bet should you not obtain residency in Morocco, or like many find out that you're simply not cut out for being an expat in the first place and want to return home.

See the following US State Dept. link for information on the K-3 Nonimmigrant Visa:

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/e … tizen.html

Cheers,
James         Expat-blog Experts Team

Hi

So does this mean if I wanted to move to Morocco from the USA and marry and stay there that I would only get a 3 month visit permission and have to return back to the states ?

I am a citizen by birth and have a blue passport - I always thought there was no stay restrictions and therefore getting residency to remain in morocco after marriage is granted. Is that not the case ?

And saidgeek - what did you end up doing for your situation as I too would like my fiance (soon to be wife) to visit my parents as they are also in old age as yours are and not able to travel to morocco.

I thought there were tourist visa granted for up to 10 years for moroccan citizens who could both afford it and showed proof that they would return.

A Moroccan visa is granted to any visiting foreign citizen from Europe, N America and Australia and NZ for an initial period of three months. This is renewable ONCE for a further three months. If you wish to move to Morocco, you will have to obtain a residence card, a long and arduous process. Some people will tell you that you can simply go out of the country for a couple of days and come back to get another three month visa. This is possible, but illegal and if you get an over-zealous immigration officer, he can refuse entry. If you meet the conditions, it's best for you to get a residence card. By the way, marriage to a Moroccan does not guarantee a residence permit in Morocco. You have to fulfill other conditions too.

As for 10 year tourist visas being issued for Moroccans in the States, I'd be very surprised. They might as well throw up their hands up and say, OK, anyone can come and live here for as long as they like. A 10 year tourist visa? I have never heard of such a thing. Be realistic. You are not going to get your fiancee into the States at all, unless you are very lucky. You are going to have a devil of a job getting her there as your wife, even for a short stay as a tourist. Why? Because the failure rate for marriages such as yours is catastrophic and the authorities aren't stupid. They know that the Moroccan partner is often only marrying for residency, especially if the age difference is great. If they claim they want to make a simple visit, the authorities are aware that the Moroccan partner is very likely simply to disappear as soon as they land. I read in the Swedish press that UK people bringing a Moroccan partner to the UK have to have an income of 22000 Euros a year. If the age difference is large, the British add a requirement of 70000 Euros in the bank as savings. I wish Sweden would do the same.

There's a whole page on this on the US government website about sham marriages to Moroccans and how the US regards them and why they are loathe to grant visas. Have a look. It might give you pause for thought.

By the way, I am not yet living in Morocco (I'll be there in 6 days) but I had to do a lot of research so I think my info is correct.

SvenStockholm, thanks for the information.

So even if the moroccan wife remains in morocco, I would have to make the extra trip back to the states and then after some time return to go back and just for another 3 month period. It could be managed but I think it is not practical though.

Surely there must be a better solution - what if I purchased property in morocco ? then could I gain residency as a property owner - say a "vacation home" outside the US ?

Regarding the tourist visa - I am not so sure about it - I just heard about it and thought it was true. I have yet to verify anyone actually doing that. It is probably more trouble than its worth.

Where can I find more information about residence cards in morocco for someone like myself (an expat) ?

Also are there any good legal services / attorneys who handle everything for you for a fee ? (my job keeps me very busy and I would rather have a professional handle all this on my behalf if possible)

You don't have to go out every three months to the States. You simply take a very cheap flight to Spain (Malaga or the Canary Islands) or Portugal and come back two or three days later.

Owning a home won't automatically confer residency either. You have to fulfill a number of criteria, some of which are a convertible bank account in Morocco, attestations from the cops that you have no criminal record either in the States or Morocco. There are more things needed than that, of course.

As for firms of lawyers doing this for you, well, I suppose they must exist. Remember I don't live yet in Morocco and what I am telling you comes from my employer and my own research. My employer is arranging my residency for me, but nothing can be started until I have a rental agreement (signed and notarised) and have opened a bank account.

Oh, and by the way, you have to convert to Islam to marry a Moroccan woman. This has implications for inheritance. Any property in Morocco may then not be left in your will to any Jew or Christian (or other religion). So if you have children from a previous marriage (or you want to make bequests to friends, other family or parents), they will be cut out of your will as far as your Moroccan property goes. It's even worse if you have official residency in Morocco, Moroccan law then applies to all inheritance (as you have no US residency, US law cannot apply) and ALL of your property, goods and chattels, even in the States, has to be left to Moroccan Muslims. You can't just make a will leaving stuff to non-Muslims as it would be cancelled by the court. If you don't leave a will, property will all go to your wife and your Muslim children.

You cannot "unconvert" from Islam after marriage to get round this. This is a serious offence called apostasy, which is imprisonable. Even after the imprisonment, one is still a Muslim.

You have to go into this marriage with your eyes open. So many people marry Moroccans in haste and repent at leisure both because of the scam marriage factor and the prevalence of laws such as these. If your wife-to-be didn't tell you all this, I would have a hard look at your relationship and ask myself why she remained silent. I've seen post after post on various forums on men and women from the West who have married  N Africans and have fallen foul of laws like this (after not having been told about them) or who have been milked of everything and then dumped.

I'm not saying that every marriage like this fails and I'm sure you'd say that your partner "is different". Remember though, that's what all the people said too, who are wiser and poorer now! However, if you hadn't been told about these laws, I should be concerned.

SvenStockholm wrote:

You don't have to go out every three months to the States. You simply take a very cheap flight to Spain (Malaga or the Canary Islands) or Portugal and come back two or three days later.

Owning a home won't automatically confer residency either. You have to fulfill a number of criteria, some of which are a convertible bank account in Morocco, attestations from the cops that you have no criminal record either in the States or Morocco. There are more things needed than that, of course.

As for firms of lawyers doing this for you, well, I suppose they must exist. Remember I don't live yet in Morocco and what I am telling you comes from my employer and my own research. My employer is arranging my residency for me, but nothing can be started until I have a rental agreement (signed and notarised) and have opened a bank account.

Alright well my job permits me to travel as often as I like and to places in Europe among others around the globe. So that solves that issue. But I would prefer still to have the residency establishment - also I forgot to ask, by obtaining moroccan residency status, do I automatically forfeit my US residency and citizenship ? (can i not be a dual resident of the US and morocco simply due to my marriage being with a moroccan citizen and my "by birth nationality" linking me back to the US ?

Yeah I have no criminal record - where do I get a statement attesting to that ? or who do I contact here in the states ? local police department ? is there a standardized form to fill out ?

Yes I actually prefer to have the lawyer / law firm walk me through the entire process and even have one of their representatives travel with me and help me while  in morocco. I am sure it will cost a good fee but for the possibility of saving me from countless hours of headaches and stress, I prefer to spend the money in this manner. What kind of legal specialty handles these kinds of special requests ?

And I asked my fiance and she said after marriage, after 3 months of stay in morocco they will give you the residency card without a problem. She said she has seen other friends do the same without any problem.

SvenStockholm wrote:

Oh, and by the way, you have to convert to Islam to marry a Moroccan woman. This has implications for inheritance. Any property in Morocco may then not be left in your will to any Jew or Christian (or other religion). So if you have children from a previous marriage (or you want to make bequests to friends, other family or parents), they will be cut out of your will as far as your Moroccan property goes. It's even worse if you have official residency in Morocco, Moroccan law then applies to all inheritance (as you have no US residency, US law cannot apply) and ALL of your property, goods and chattels, even in the States, has to be left to Moroccan Muslims. You can't just make a will leaving stuff to non-Muslims as it would be cancelled by the court. If you don't leave a will, property will all go to your wife and your Muslim children.

You cannot "unconvert" from Islam after marriage to get round this. This is a serious offence called apostasy, which is imprisonable. Even after the imprisonment, one is still a Muslim.

You have to go into this marriage with your eyes open. So many people marry Moroccans in haste and repent at leisure both because of the scam marriage factor and the prevalence of laws such as these. If your wife-to-be didn't tell you all this, I would have a hard look at your relationship and ask myself why she remained silent. I've seen post after post on various forums on men and women from the West who have married  N Africans and have fallen foul of laws like this (after not having been told about them) or who have been milked of everything and then dumped.

I'm not saying that every marriage like this fails and I'm sure you'd say that your partner "is different". Remember though, that's what all the people said too, who are wiser and poorer now! However, if you hadn't been told about these laws, I should be concerned.

Yes I have already taken care of this and I am prepared to forfeit the assets and property I would own in morocco in the event of any will instructions proceeding taking precedence thereby distributing whatever I had owned to my wife and children. That is perfectly fine with me.

I do have one concern about what you said - Are you sure the US assets would be mingled into this ?

I do not think all the assets from here in the states are mixed into the inheritance laws over there in morocco and even if they were - there is no true legal link between the two nations to facilitate such kind of transfer of assets to the then "foreign" non US national person (moroccan wife) or person(s) if you include children result of the moroccan wife.

Where did you get that information then regarding the inheritance law ?

In any case, in worst case scenario I will just have to have the same law firm handle the preservation and protection of the US assets in an effort to keep them separate and concealed because my US assets are a majority of inheritance from my own parents and have no relation or should not to whatever assets I bring to morocco or create over there.

Hi

"by obtaining moroccan residency status, do I automatically forfeit my US residency and citizenship ?"

I can't speak for the US, but for Sweden (and I read an old post about the UK) yes, you forfeit the residency of your own country. It's worse for the UK than Sweden as British people lose free benefits to the Health Service and Social Security. So, I'm afraid you'll have to ask the authorities in the States as I simply don't know. However, you certainly don't lose youer citizenship!

"Yeah I have no criminal record - where do I get a statement attesting to that ?"

For US citizens, the FBI, according to other threads.

AS for the inheritance law, I read this on a thread on the French forum. My French is not very good, but someone had C&P'd a whole text from somewhere. My understanding was that you cannot "hide" assets as you have to name heirs, so even if you don't mention things, it will go to them anyway. In addition, my understanding is that you can't have more than one "Last Will and Testament"; it's illogical. So if you are resident in Morocco, you're stuck with a Moroccan will as you (probably, but you have to check) no longer have US residency.

Remember I do not yet live in Morocco! I can't advise you about lawyers. However, I do know that the UK Embassy website has a selection of lawyers recommended by British people. Obviously the Embassy is careful to say that the UK does not endorse these advocates, but I guess that is a place to start seeing as there have been satisfied customers already. I believe that they are English-speaking too.

Thanks and yea I guess I will do a search online and find out which type of legal specialty would be able to help me. It is a bit complicated with the assets and residency issues. Ideally I would like to have dual residency since my income is taxed here in the US and is sourced from here as well. The last thing I want is to end up paying additional tax on that income to morocco as a moroccan resident.

I wish there was some affluent US / Moroccan lawyers around here...

Keep your US bank account and withdrawal/debit/credit cards. Use them even if you are resident in Morocco. Then you won't pay tax. In any case, as far as I am aware, you won't pay tax on transfers to your convertible Moroccan account which you have to open to be able to become a resident.

Keep your US bank account and withdrawal/debit/credit cards. Use them even if you are resident in Morocco. Then you won't pay tax. In any case, as far as I am aware, you won't pay tax on transfers to your convertible Moroccan account which you have to open to be able to become a resident.

And I really don't even need a convertible account because a lot of the major banks from here within the US confirmed to me they allow withdrawals from the ATMs over there in morocco and I am not charged any fee of any kind with exception to the fees from their (morocco) side which I don't imagine to be much at all. Then after withdrawing funds I just convert it into dirhams (the local currency) and Im done.

The convertible account as I understand it is just so that I can withdraw in dirhams from dollars within the same account. And yes it helps for residency purpose I suppose.

Hello omzda,

Regarding your US bank accounts, annual 1040 Income Tax Return and permanent residency in Morocco you first need to find out if there is a Bilateral Tax Treaty between the USA and Morocco. (likely not)

If there is NO treaty then you have absolutely no protection from double taxation on both your US sourced income and your Morocco sourced income (if any). This is a very important point and you should not overlook it. You will have to file an annual 1040 with the IRS wherever you live, since you're a US citizen. You are required to report your Morocco sourced income (and that of any other nation) as "Worldwide Income" to the IRS. That does not necessarily mean you will be taxed on that income, but if it exceeds certain amounts you certainly can be.

It is quite likely that you will also be obligated to report all of your US sourced income when filing an Income Tax return in Morocco as well. The same conditions would apply if you do. If they do not yet require reporting of "Worldwide Income" it is quite likely that they soon will, most countries are moving toward this as a result of pressure put on them by the US government.

You may also find it difficult to even open a Morocco bank account, if not impossible since many foreign financial institutions now are refusing to open new accounts for US citizens and deemed citizens to avoid the hassles of having to report account information directly to the IRS as a result of the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act - FATCA and FBAR requirements.

Regarding inheritance rights, you need to get expert legal advice on inheritance and succession laws in Morocco and exactly how they will effect any assets and inheritances you already have in the USA. You can only have one Last Will and Testament (anywhere in the world), the mere fact that you excecute a new Will automatically invalidates any old Will. If you make a new Will in Morocco it is going to be dealt with only according to Moroccan probate laws, so be very careful.

If the majority of your assets are in the USA and you have specific desires as to how they should be distributed following your death then it would be highly unadvisable to make a new Will in Morocco if there is even the remotest possibility that doing so would impact on your US assets.

Expatriation, and marriage in any foreign country have far reaching implications that should be clearly understood before undertaking any course of action. Those implications in some cases may even make marriage in the new country highly inadvisable. Get sound legal advice before you jump into anything. Use your head rather than letting your heart lead you into serious and irreversable problems.

Cheers,
James
Expat-blog Experts Team

@omzda

James has given some very pertinent and excellent advice. Please heed him.

Let me say that the opening of a convertible bank account is a prerequisite for gaining Moroccan residency. This is not problematic for Swedes, but as James says, US exceptionalism is rebounding on itself and you might find difficulties as a US citizen, in which case you would be reduced to taking flights to and from Malaga or Lisbon every three months to renew your visa.

In addition, I cannot but endorse James's advice about going into any such marriage with both eyes wide open! So many people on these boards marry Moroccans and then find themselves either exploited or the victims of laws such as the ones on inheritance when one has had to covert to being a Muslim. Did you see the post from earlier today from someone who wants immediately to marry their Moroccan boyfriend after 10 days of being together? It's insane. At least you are going into this methodically and carefully.