Canadians/Americans moved to Morocco?

Hi,

I am looking to see if any Canadians / Americans have moved to Morocco? Would like to hear from anyone, especially those who have kids.

I am born in Canada to Moroccan parents, and I am thinking of moving to Morocco with my Moroccan wife. I always go back to Morocco and love it during the summer and holidays. Now I am thinking of going full time, but I am not sure if it will be as enjoyable as a vacation.

I work a 2 week on and 2 week off rotation, so I would be flying back and forth to Morocco on my days off, while my family is in Morocco full time.

The language and culture won't be a shock to me, I am just afraid I will get tired for the lack of "structure" in Morocco.

One problem I can foresee is the education of your kids. As you well know they would have to join a private school. If it's an American school it's even worst, the tuition is around $10 000 a year for each kid.

Yea for sure. My son is 4 years old right now, so I would plan on moving back to Canada when he is at the age of Junior High / High School.

Where is the best American school in Morocco? I have not decided what city to move to, but I am guessing Rabat would be my best choice, since it has lots of resources there.

I'm a French Californian getting settled in Morocco. I like it very much. There are practical, administrative and banking difficulties.
Practical: electricty: the current available to residences often seems insufficient if you plan on using small kitchen appliances -- microwave, toaster-ovens, etc.Also, if  you go to an area where you need heating in winter, electricity is very expensive, and there are frequent outages.  Shipping: I had 4 boxes of personal possessions shipped, they have been stuck in Casablanca for 3 months now, for lack of detailed bills (so, make sure each box has precise list or content with exact" billing"). Wi-fi: works sometime; don't depend on it.
Administrative: make sure you either obtain residency or leave country and re-enter iwthin 3 months, or   you are then illegal and it gets very time consuming and frustrating to straighen it  up.
Banking: if you plan on getting funds wire-transfered from Canada to Morocco, yiou need to set it up with you bank before you leave, but then you don't yet have a banking account here. Showing a local bank account with funds in it  is one of the prerequisites  for residency. Most small businesses do not work with credit cards.
I realize that much of this will not apply to you, since  you wife is Moroccan. And, most of these issues can be taken care of, and then life will be easier.
Rabat is kind of awful.
I wish you a smooth transition and a happy life in Morocco. If you come anywhere near Asilah, where I am, do feel free to get in touch again.

I can only speak of my shock that Asilah seems so primitive.

In El Jadida, Casablanca and even small towns in the neighbourhood such as Azemmour and Moulay Abdellah the electric supply is sufficient to power several devices all at once as well as the lights, laptop and TV. I typically have a radiator and blow heater on in the winter and use the microwave at the same time with no problems. I can assert that this is the case in Marrakesh and Agadir. The expense is relative. My electricity bill for December was 622 dirhams (including costs for 2 immersion heaters for the bathrooms and kitchen), £45. It would have been 5 times this in the UK. There was one outage of 20 minutes this winter during a torrential downpour. They are not frequent here. In addition, gas is incredibly cheap and I usually leave a gas ring burning on the hob when it's really cold. My gas costs me 45 dirhams every 2 to 3 months.

WiFi and internet are solid and reliable. Again, there has been one general outage in the past few months when there was no internet in my area. A friend a couple of kms away was still receiving the service. OK, it's not blindingly fast, but it's reliable.

Why on earth cannot one not set up regular transfers from Canada to the newly-opened Moroccan account? Is there no such thing as internet banking in N America. Really?

I agree, Rabat is drearily provincial. Casablanca is far more exciting!

Cecile Debraine wrote:

I'm a French Californian getting settled in Morocco. I like it very much. There are practical, administrative and banking difficulties.
Practical: electricty: the current available to residences often seems insufficient if you plan on using small kitchen appliances -- microwave, toaster-ovens, etc.Also, if  you go to an area where you need heating in winter, electricity is very expensive, and there are frequent outages.  Shipping: I had 4 boxes of personal possessions shipped, they have been stuck in Casablanca for 3 months now, for lack of detailed bills (so, make sure each box has precise list or content with exact" billing"). Wi-fi: works sometime; don't depend on it.
Administrative: make sure you either obtain residency or leave country and re-enter iwthin 3 months, or   you are then illegal and it gets very time consuming and frustrating to straighen it  up.
Banking: if you plan on getting funds wire-transfered from Canada to Morocco, yiou need to set it up with you bank before you leave, but then you don't yet have a banking account here. Showing a local bank account with funds in it  is one of the prerequisites  for residency. Most small businesses do not work with credit cards.
I realize that much of this will not apply to you, since  you wife is Moroccan. And, most of these issues can be taken care of, and then life will be easier.
Rabat is kind of awful.
I wish you a smooth transition and a happy life in Morocco. If you come anywhere near Asilah, where I am, do feel free to get in touch again.


Thanks for the info.

RIght now I have a vacation home and a bank account in Morocco, and have been able to transfer funds with no issues.

Residency won't be an issue as I am a Citizen.