I love it when this happens! The Indian passport is getting better and better!
One after another, countries are getting onboard to gain access to all that untapped tourism potential that comes from India. A few years ago Turkey launched an eVisa scheme for Indians (and other nationalities) and this was wildly successful. Now, Morocco has followed up with its own eVisa program for Indian citizens. This program mostly caters to tourists so if you’re looking for a work or other type of visa, this article is not for you.
It’s pretty well known that when countries need to figure out their visa policies towards Indians they need to tread cautiously. There are enormous numbers of legitimate tourists that come from India. But countries need to balance that with the potential for illegal immigration.
An eVisa is certainly one method that can help them keep track of who is arriving and how to process those arrivals at border posts.
Until now, visiting Morocco required a fairly simple visa process but you had to go through a consulate and submit a number of documents and get a visa stamped in your passport. This may sound complex to people that have never applied for a visa, but when it comes to visa processes, it’s quite simple compared to the Schengen zone, the UK, or USA.
Now, Indian citizens can get an eVisa valid for 6 months (single entry) by simply filling a form online and then paying for the visa. You can even expedite the visa and receive it within 1 business day. The regular eVisa costs 770 MAD and takes up to 3 business days to process. The expedited eVisa costs 1000 MAD and takes up to 1 business day. They do say that those timelines are generally in place but if you need some additional verification then it can take longer.
All you need to submit are your passport details, a scan of your passport data page, and a recent photograph. These documents need to be uploaded to their website and then you need to make the payment.
I applied for my eVisa on Friday at around 1.30pm Morocco time. I paid for the expedited process since I would like to travel there over the coming weekend. I made the payment using my debit card. After about an hour and forty five minutes, I had the eVisa in my email inbox!
I’m definitely impressed with the speed and efficiency with which it was processed. Since I live so close to Morocco (Portugal) I’ll certainly be making frequent trips there to check out more of this amazing country. Ever since I watched Babel I’ve been wanting to travel there! I know, not the most representative movie for the place but the Atlas mountains have held my imagination since then!
If you’re Indian and would like to visit Morocco, the eVisa is pretty simple to get and definitely beats having to go and submit a number of documents at the embassy. Just be careful to apply at the official Moroccan eVisa website by the government as there are plenty of agents who are happy to do this for you while charging a commission.
How to use the eVisa
I know, this may sound like it’s trivial but when it comes to visas there are always extra steps. So one thing you need to know is that you must print out the eVisa. They will check it at the airport before you board your flight, they will ask you for it at immigration when you arrive.
The other thing the airlines usually check for, is a ticket out of Morocco. So make sure you have one ready and printed. You can book a refundable ticket if you haven’t decided your dates yet. But definitely book one. In general this is good practice even if you are traveling to a visa exempt location. The authorities use this as a signal for ‘you plan to leave, and you have the means to do so, at least for now’.
My experience with using the eVisa to travel to Morocco
As mentioned above, the airlines did ask me for the printed eVisa which I readily showed them. They also asked me for a ticket out of Morocco which I had ready and printed. There were no further questions and I was allowed to board my flight.
On arrival in Morocco things got interesting. I walked up to the immigration counter. The immigration officers were really friendly and started saying “Namaste” to me from behind the counter. The officer who was processing my documents took my eVisa, typed something into his computer, and then asked me for my boarding pass. I handed him my boarding pass. He took another piece of paper and wrote on the back “Visa inexistant” and said – “Go to that room over there”. By now I was getting a bit anxious because I remembered that I had just applied for the visa on Friday afternoon, got it within an hour, and now on Monday morning they are unable to find it in their system.
Anyway I walked up to the room in the corner, the immigration officer there was busy sipping some tea, he took my eVisa, went to his computer and typed something in, and wrote “OK” on the piece of paper. After this high-tech verification, I was advised to go back to the prior immigration booth.
So I walked back there, he asked me the address of where I was staying, and then he stamped me in. I presumed that their system hadn’t updated my eVisa because it was so recently put in some other system. My nerd brain imagined that there was a cronjob (an automated computer task) that hadn’t run yet, pulling all the entries from one database to another.
But anyway, it was all pretty smooth and everyone was very courteous and friendly throughout the 5 extra minutes I had to spend at immigration.
With all that said, I would definitely use the eVisa system again to travel to Morocco.
That’s all there is to it! If you have any questions, please leave a comment. Enjoy your travels in Morocco!
