Morocco’s Border Closure Leaves Expats Unable to Visit Family for Summer

For more than three months, Morocco has barricaded itself off from the world. With the airspace closed, it is difficult for Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) to travel to the country to spend their holidays there after several months of work and stress abroad.

With the health crisis, hundreds of thousands of French people will not spend the summer holidays with their families in Morocco, reports France24 which has done a report on the subject "Going home to see family in the Maghreb, a headache with Covid-19". While it is so difficult for MREs to reunite with their families, they are, on the other hand, authorized to come and see their family in France.

For several MREs, this situation is uncomfortable, especially since it upsets their vacation plans. This is the case of Fatiha Ghandi and her three children, who are used to spending every August with the rest of the family in Morocco. This plan is now disrupted with the Covid-19 pandemic. "We’re a little sad. I think we won’t go because nothing is certain yet. The borders are still not reopened," she explains.

Thanks to Morocco’s decision to partially open its borders, Moroccan citizens and foreign residents in the Kingdom, as well as their families, will be able to access the national territory, starting from July 14, 2020 at midnight. This decision delights several MREs, who were waiting for nothing more than to reunite with their families.