Child of Moroccan LPR father traveling to Morocco.

[caybee 21]

One of our friends plans to travel to Morocco this Wednesday with his year-old son. His wife is supportive -- she is staying home for financial and work reasons. The father is a Moroccan national and permanent resident of the U.S. The child is American because he was born here and Moroccan because his father is a Moroccan citizen. The child has an American passport, for which his American mother gave permission. We were checking to see if they also needed to carry a notarized permission statement from the mother, and we ran across this from DOS:

The government of Morocco does not recognize "dual nationality". When the father is a citizen of Morocco, children automatically acquire Moroccan citizenship at birth, regardless of the country of birth, and must enter the country on Moroccan passports. source

So it looks like the child must have a Moroccan passport, which he does not have. Is this correct? I know a few members have traveled back and forth with children of Moroccan nationals, so I hope one can answer soon, as they are to leave in less than 48 hours and we have only just found this snag. In the meantime, we will keep researching.

Thank you for any advice you can give.

Edited June 10, 2008 by mona_jamie

[Henia 11]

Well from what I have read, you should register the child within he/she is one years old ($9 fee) receieve a Family Book (Livret d’Etat Civil). The child should then be written into the birth father's passport. Also they would go from there to arrange a passport for your child.

I know with my daughter, she has a US passport with which she travelled with. All you need to do is write a notarized statement saying that you the birth mother authorize the birth father your husban to take the child to Morrocco. Have birth cert and marriage cert copies notarized too as supporting documentation.

But I think it is best to contact the Morrocan embassy or consulate in NY! Good luck!

[caybee 21]

Well from what I have read, you should register the child within he/she is one years old ($9 fee) receieve a Family Book (Livret d’Etat Civil). The child should then be written into the birth father's passport. Also they would go from there to arrange a passport for your child.

I know with my daughter, she has a US passport with which she travelled with. All you need to do is write a notarized statement saying that you the birth mother authorize the birth father your husban to take the child to Morrocco. Have birth cert and marriage cert copies notarized too as supporting documentation.

But I think it is best to contact the Morrocan embassy or consulate in NY! Good luck!

Thank you, Henia. And from what I understand, the father should also be registered with the Moroccan consulate here in order to register his son. They have done neither yet, and since the son is now more than a year old and they missed that initial deadline, it appears from the consulate's website that it would take perhaps three or four months to register him since they would have to send the paperwork to the courts in Morocco instead of just handling it here, and we know how fast the wheels turn there. I'll suggest to them that he carry the birth and marriage certificates and a statement from the mom if they do go. As for getting into Morocco, I don't know. The DOS page sure seemed to indicate that they'd have trouble getting the child in without a Moroccan passport since they would not recognize the child's American citizenship. And since they are to leave tomorrow, it's far too late to get that done. We forwarded the contact information for the consulate in New York. I hope they were able to get some reassuring news -- or at least some clear information -- from the Moroccan consulate. When we find out, I'll post the result since this is bound to come up again for someone.

Thanks again.

Edited June 10, 2008 by mona_jamie

[Henia 11]

Mona_Jamie:

Ok, so if the child is more then year old then you would have to have an consulate order (court) to register him. I think still best bet is directly contact the Moroccan consulate in NY ASAP!

And going to Morocco with US passport ... well I can only tell you my experience with daughter in Algeria and Tunis. Not taken her to Morocco. But I still think if you have all the documention then they should not give you that much hassle. But still go legit and contact the Moroccan embassy!

[caybee 21]

Mona_Jamie:

Ok, so if the child is more then year old then you would have to have an consulate order (court) to register him. I think still best bet is directly contact the Moroccan consulate in NY ASAP!

And going to Morocco with US passport ... well I can only tell you my experience with daughter in Algeria and Tunis. Not taken her to Morocco. But I still think if you have all the documention then they should not give you that much hassle. But still go legit and contact the Moroccan embassy!

Thank you, Henia. I don't know if this is a Morocco-specific thing, and the only place I've read it was on the DOS website. I don't know if our friend contacted the consulate today. He has told my husband that they are indeed leaving tomorrow. So I guess there's nothing more we can do now except to hope for the best.

[Henia 11]

Yes, hope for the best! I will pray for you, that all goes smoothly!

[caybee 21]

Yes, hope for the best! I will pray for you, that all goes smoothly!

Thank you.

Just an update -- they did make the trip. We haven't heard from him directly, but my husband's parents have been to see him and the baby. I'm glad it did not turn out to be as complicated as the DOS site made it sound.

[Henia 11]

Elhamdullah that they arrived safely. I am sure all the family is eager to see your son (I believe you said you have a son) ... and yes, usually it is not as complicated as the sites/authorites make it out to be. But always best to have all the paperwork when travelling with children in this day and age! Cheers!

[caybee 21]

Elhamdullah that they arrived safely. I am sure all the family is eager to see your son (I believe you said you have a son) ... and yes, usually it is not as complicated as the sites/authorites make it out to be. But always best to have all the paperwork when travelling with children in this day and age! Cheers!

These are friends of ours, and yes, their child is a boy, and very sweet.

We're taking notes in case we ever need this stuff. Thank you.

[MrsAmera 41]

Even though this has been "sorted" out I just wanted to add my experience in case anyone pulls this again.

If the child is an American citizen then they just need to carry an American passport. Your child, regardless of their father does not need to ever become a Moroccan citizen unless they decide to do the paperwork. My husband went to Morocco with our 1 year old son, my husband is an LPR, my son an American citizen. I gave him a note in English and French to carry in case they were questioned but he said there was no problems and no one asked to see it at all in the US, Europe or Morocco. I would say that if the child is not yet 1 yr old that they should be registered with the Moroccan embassy in the US (Washington DC) because after they turn 1 it is a hassle to get the paperwork filed.