Living and Working in Morocco!

Hi Mrbeall,

Morocco is an excellent destination.
However, i do question your choice of city, Tanger.
Whilst it is a colourful city, i don't think it is your best choice.

Personally, i would choose either Marrakech, Fes or Casablanca.
Casablanca only if you absolutely have to.

Marrakech and Fes is my top two reccomendations.

Both of these will have a range of schools for you to attend and learn Arabic.

On the work front, i would not get your hopes up about this.
Most of the population can't even get a job, and it's not as easy as just turning up.
Your employer will need to get permission to employ you and prove that you offer skills that a local person does not.
So, that is going to be quite hard.
Additionally, the pay in Morocco, you will find is appalling.
Hours are usually 12 hours per day, 6 days per week to earn around 1000 to 1500 Dirham per month, if lucky.

You may find the odd hostel (hence marrakech and fes as the choices) who MIGHT do a deal with you in return for some duties, but again, don't expect much, because they can pay so little to the locals.

So, don't give up, do try to find something, but don't leave the work thing until you get there and don't be pinning everything on it.

Sounds strange, but, you might be better off with a rosetta stone program on your computer.

Hi rickyd1ckydoo,

Thanks for your advice. Seeing as this is still somewhat far away, I realize I may sound a bit like I don't know what I'm talking about; I have a lot more research to do!

Regarding your recommendations, I was really hoping to move somewhere close to the coast (actually, this is my girlfriend's demand, since I will be stealing her from the Italian riveria so that I can learn Arabic for graduate school) but perhaps Casablanca is a better place to look than Tangier?

I know its a very different country, but I have lived abroad for six months in Lebanon. I have a little bit of Arabic from that experience, and actually do own the Arabic Rosetta Stone programs, but I'm quickly finding that if I want to really become proficient, I need to go immerse myself and take more structured classes.

That said, this would be temporary (probably 1-2 years) and I'm not incredibly concerned with the money. I'll need to make enough money to support myself, make rent and bills, etc., but I'm not looking for a career or wealth building so much as surviving somewhat modestly. Still, it sounds like this may be a problem. Do you think maybe looking for programs teaching English would be one possibility? Again, I don't speak any French and am in the beginning stages of Arabic.

Also, are there any English newspapers or publications that might be looking for writers? It would be great to put either of my university majors to use, if possible.

Anyways, thanks again for your help. I really do appreciate it, as I begin seriously looking into these possibilities.

Thanks,

-Chris

Hi Chris,

I think you hit the nail on the head in the last part of your email....find an income which is independant of Morocco.

The reason for this is that almost whatever work you do manage to find in Morocco will be low paid.
This may not even cover the standard of living that you require...living standards for ordinary people in Morocco are quite low...average person outside the tourist areas don't even own fridges and if they eat meat every day they are rather lucky.

So, i would try to find some dort income, such as writing, using your skills.

Teaching english is a possibilty, especially if you get TEFL accredited qualifications.

The coast: essaouria would be a good choice, and only 2 and a half hours from Marrakech.
However, you might not find a decent arabic language school there.
But Marrakech being only 2 hours or so from the coast by bus, this could satisfy your girlfriend for weekends etc.

Yep, do some more research - think of other Arabic countries too, Libya might even be a reasonable choice?
I've been to Libya too and it is a very nice and peaceful country, really bringing itself inline for mass tourism...so you might find some potential contacts there for work on the side etc.

Anyway, let me know if you have any other questions and i'm sure some others will chip in soon too.

You won't be able to support yourself in Morocco, unless you do IT or programming and have a network of contacts that allows you to work remotely or something like that. Freelancing is worth looking into but you certainly won't have any comparative advantage lacking French and Arabic. You could get a job teaching English but you would have extremely long hours while not making enough to live on. You're better off working now and saving up as much money as you can in order to go there for an extended period. Assuming your girlfriend has never been to Morocco before, I can say with 99.9% certainty that she (and likely you as well) would be absolutely miserable within a week of moving to either Tangier or Casablanca. Marrakesh is an infinitely better choice.

It only took me 5 minutes to be miserable in Casablanca, in fact about 5 seconds after crossing the border from Cueta into Morocco I was in the deapths of dispair!