Hiring in Morocco: the contract visa, residence and the contract, step by step

Move someone who is already in Morocco

A foreign national already working in Morocco who moves to a new employer needs a new contract on the official model. It needs its own visa from the Ministry of Employment, and takes effect from the date of that visa.

Any change to an existing contract, such as a new role or new pay, needs the visa too.

A residence card holder tells the authorities when they move home.

Check the role is open to a non-Moroccan

The Labour Code sets no list of professions closed to foreign nationals. Each foreign hire is approved on its own instead.

The job is advertised in the press, and ANAPEC, the national employment agency, issues its certificate for the foreign hire. The Ministry of Employment then puts its visa on the contract. It can withdraw its approval at any time.

A regulated profession also follows its own law.

Set the contract up right

A contract of employment need not be in writing, but a foreign employee's follows the official model. A written contract is made in two copies, signed by both sides, with the signatures legalised. The employee keeps one.

It can be open-ended, fixed-term, or for a set task. A fixed-term contract is allowed only in set cases: to replace an employee whose contract is suspended, for a temporary rise in activity, for seasonal work, and in the sectors and cases a regulation or a collective agreement sets. Outside agriculture, a new business, establishment or product can also use a fixed-term contract of up to a year, renewable once, after which it becomes open-ended.

On an open-ended contract, a trial period can last up to three months for managers, a month and a half for employees and 15 days for workers. It can be renewed once.

Normal hours are up to 44 a week outside agriculture. Every employee has at least 24 hours of rest a week, from midnight to midnight.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Morocco's Labour Code treats as an employee anyone who works under the direction of one or more employers for pay, whatever its kind and however it is paid.

A foreign national can be employed only on a contract carrying the Ministry of Employment's visa. Employing one without it is an offence. So is a contract that does not follow the official model.

A role that needs a work permit goes through employer of record.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

Leave for family events is paid for monthly-paid staff. Staff paid otherwise are paid for two days of their own marriage, and for one day on the death of a spouse, parent or child.

End employment on the law's terms

An open-ended contract ends on notice, unless the other side has committed gross misconduct. Notice can never be less than eight days.

An employee dismissed after six months' service or more is owed a dismissal payment for each year of service: 96 hours' pay for years one to five, 144 for six to ten, 192 for eleven to fifteen and 240 after fifteen. It is not due for gross misconduct. An unfair dismissal adds damages of a month and a half's pay for each year of service, up to 36 months.

Annual leave built up and not taken is paid when the contract ends. Staff paid by the hour or the day receive final pay within 24 hours of a dismissal, and within 72 hours when they leave of their own accord.

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