Morocco Leads Maghreb in French Residence Permits, Shaping Immigration Landscape

According to the Observatory of Immigration and Demography (OID), Morocco has risen to the top of the Maghreb countries in terms of the number of residence permits issued by France in 2024, ahead of Algeria and Tunisia. In detail, Moroccans received 36,815 new residence permits. In total, 29,270 residence permits were issued to Algerians and 22,456 to Tunisians. This evolution reflects the continuation of Morocco’s leading position in the region in terms of legal flows to France.

In terms of population, Tunisia is at the top in terms of the density of residence permit issuance with 182 permits per 100,000 inhabitants. It is followed by Morocco (99 permits), then Algeria (63 permits). As for the number of Maghrebis residing in France in 2023, there are approximately 853,000 Moroccans, or more than 2.2 million in total. This number places the kingdom among the largest foreign communities and the most attached to their country of origin. The number of resident Algerians is 892,000 people (2.3 million in total), while that of Tunisians is 347,000 people (0.9 million).

On the employment side, Moroccan and Tunisian migrants face the same difficulties. The unemployment rate reaches 14.7%, compared to 6.5% for non-migrants. As for the employment rates of the second generation, it is 54.1%. On the education side, 39.5% of Moroccan and Tunisian migrants have no diploma or only a secondary school level, while 23.2% hold a university degree, and 17.7% of the second generation have no diploma, compared to 27.8% with university degrees.

In terms of housing, 44% of Moroccan and Tunisian families live in social housing, 33% reside in priority neighborhoods, while only 29% own private housing, compared to 59% for non-migrants. As for the links with the country of origin, the vast majority of Moroccan and Tunisian migrants maintain strong ties with their country of origin. 97% of them have visited it at least once between 2018 and 2020, and 93% maintain permanent contact through communications or visits.

Only 3% of children of migrants wish to return to live in the country of origin.