MA · Citizenship by descent

Moroccan citizenship by descent

Reaches a great-grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20264 sourcesNot legal advice

MA · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizen by descentMA · GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a grandparentCitizen by descentMA · GREAT-GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a great-grandparentCitizen by descent
Routes
Citizen by descent (Art. 6)
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Law changes
  10. 10Other doors
  11. 11Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Moroccan citizenship through a grandparent?

Citizen by descent

A child of a Moroccan is Moroccan wherever born, so your parent is Moroccan through your grandparent and, once their birth is transcribed, you are Moroccan through your parent.

What would settle itWhether your parent's birth has been transcribed in the Moroccan civil register; if not, it is done first.

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Moroccan citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Citizen by descent

A child of a Moroccan is Moroccan wherever born, so your parent is Moroccan through your grandparent and, once their birth is transcribed, you are Moroccan through your parent.

What would settle itWhether your parent's birth has been transcribed in the Moroccan civil register; if not, it is done first.

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 2007

    A child born to a Moroccan father or a Moroccan mother is Moroccan; since 2007 this applies through mothers too, including to earlier births. Moroccan Nationality Code (Dahir 1-58-250, as amended by Law 62-06 of 2007; consolidated 16 May 2024), Art. 6: children of a Moroccan father or mother, Art. 6

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

Morocco’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father. Where its reasons speak of mothers or fathers, they say:

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Citizen by descent

Open through a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent

  • LIKELY
    Through a parent
  • POSSIBLE
    Through a grandparent

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your parent's birth has been transcribed in the Moroccan civil register; if not, it is done first.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizen by descent

Through a parent

  • Your parent’s Moroccan birth certificate or identity document
  • Your birth certificate, transcribed into the Moroccan civil register at the consulate

Through a grandparent or great-grandparent

  • Your Moroccan ancestor’s civil status record
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation, transcribed at the consulate in turn

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizen by descent

Time
4–12 months to transcribe your birth into the Moroccan civil register and issue a first passport; consulates with a backlog run toward the long end.
Cost
About $250–500: certified copies, apostilles, translations and the passport fee.
The hard part
Getting your Moroccan parent’s birth or identity record transcribed correctly; consulates want it before they’ll register your own birth.
Who decides
The Moroccan consulate for your address, which forwards the transcription to the civil registry.
The first record
Your Moroccan parent’s birth certificate or national ID (CIN), from The civil registry (état civil) of the commune where they were born. Write to or visit the commune’s civil registry with the parent’s name, date and place of birth; a family member in Morocco can usually get this in a few weeks. consulat.ma

How it’s filed

Where
The Moroccan consulate where the parents are registered: the Consulate General in New York, the Embassy's consular section in Washington, or the Consulate General in Miami (unverified: state split among the three). The declarant is the father or mother (or guardian, brother or a mandated person). office list
How
In person; you appear in person
Fee
Not confirmed: no official fee was found
Decision
1–12 months
What goes in the file (6)
  1. Proof that the Moroccan parent(s) are consularly registered with the consulate (register first if not)
  2. The family record book (livret de famille) or the Moroccan identity and civil status booklet, or a written undertaking to produce it
  3. A complete (long-form) copy of the child's birth certificate issued by the local authority
  4. An extract of the mother's birth certificate, or her CNIE
  5. A copy of the father's CNIE
  6. A copy of the parents' marriage certificate
What goes wrong (8)
  • Filed by the parent, not the child: for an adult applicant, the Moroccan parent (or a mandated person) declares. unverified: whether a late transcription for an adult needs a court judgment in Morocco (jugement déclaratif) or can be done at the consulate.
  • Fee shown as 0 because none was found; unverified. Prior research put total costs at USD 250–500 including the passport.
  • Children of a Moroccan mother and a foreign father can also obtain a Moroccan nationality certificate (a separate consulat.ma service), useful where the mother's line is being proved for a birth before the 2007 reform (unverified: requirements).
  • Consulates with a backlog take up to a year.
  • Morocco has permitted dual nationality without a renunciation requirement since the original 1958 Nationality Code, so no proof that the Moroccan parent did or didn't naturalize abroad is asked for on this filing.
  • Addresses found this pass (state split still unpublished): Consular Section, Embassy of Morocco, Washington — 1601 21st Street NW, Washington, DC (secondary confidence, us.diplomatie.ma); this differs from the embassy chancery's own building address (3508 International Drive NW) — don't mail anything to the chancery address. Consulate General of Morocco, New York — 55 Broadway, New York, NY 10006 (secondary, us.diplomatie.ma). A third Consulate General in Miami also exists; its address was not found this pass.
  • No appointment-booking system for a Moroccan consulate in the U.S. was found this pass, either.
  • From CA, GB, AU, NZ, ZA, BR, AR: the Moroccan consulate where the parents are registered; the same transcription.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth

    The bureau d'état civil of the commune where the Moroccan parent was born (Ministry of the Interior civil status system)

    The parent's birth record, by name, date and commune of birth; the parent's CNIE number helps. The consulate asks for an extract of the mother's birth certificate or her CNIE and a copy of the father's CNIE.

    Ask
    Through an agent, in Arabic (with French) · request page ↗
    Takes
    1–13 weeks
    Good to know (2)
    • Consulates can issue an extract of a Moroccan birth certificate ('Extract of birth certificate' service on consulat.ma) for a registered citizen; otherwise a relative in Morocco gets it from the commune. unverified: fee and turnaround.
    • The family record book (livret de famille) of the Moroccan parent is the central document; if lost, a duplicate comes from the commune of the father's civil status registration (unverified procedure).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
Arabic
Who may translate
A sworn translator in the country
About
$30–$80 a page

Moroccan civil status is kept in Arabic (with French). unverified: whether consulates require an Arabic translation of the foreign birth certificate for transcription or transcribe it themselves; the published checklist asks only for a complete copy of the birth certificate issued by the local authority. Morocco joined the Apostille Convention in 2016, so a U.S. apostille should be accepted where authentication is required (unverified per post).

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
The Moroccan embassy or consulate general with jurisdiction over the applicant's residence (after the CNIE), paid by electronic stamp (e-timbre). Stamp duty is set by the general tax code; the amount was not verified in this pass, so the 0 here is a placeholder.
Fee
Not confirmed
Time
4–17 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Morocco.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

10Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

One residence program leads to Morocco without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

11Sources

Every source on this page

1 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawMoroccan Nationality Code (Dahir 1-58-250, as amended by Law 62-06 of 2007; consolidated 16 May 2024), Art. 6: children of a Moroccan father or mother · Art. 6
  2. RecordsThe civil registry (état civil) of the commune where they were born: Your Moroccan parent’s birth certificate or national ID (CIN) · checked 25 September 2026
  3. RecordsHow to file: Citizen by descent · checked 25 September 2026
  4. RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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