Passport Nightmare: French Resident’s 3-Week Ordeal in Morocco

Chaouki Dkhil, a 48-year-old Tunisian living in Laval, was finally able to return to France last Friday, after nearly three weeks of being stuck in Tangier. "It feels good to be home," he said, relieved. His ordeal began on September 8th at Tangier airport when he was about to take his return flight.

The Moroccan police refused him boarding due to an error on his residence permit receipt. The document, which allowed him to travel while waiting for his permanent card, mentioned the number of his old, expired passport from March, and not that of his new valid passport.

This was followed by a series of unsuccessful steps. The French prefecture did send a corrected receipt, but its electronic version was refused. The administration then refused to hand over his permanent residence card, which was ready in Nantes, to his wife. As a last resort, Mr. Dkhil had to apply for a "return visa" at the French consulate in Tangier.

It was ultimately the obtaining of this visa that allowed him to return home on Friday, putting an end to three weeks of waiting and uncertainty spent on the streets of Tangier, victim of an administrative mess.