Tunisia

Carte de séjour for retirees (résident). Transfer your pension into a Tunisian bank account and get a renewable one-year residence card, no property or investment needed.

Free · The law behind every answer · Checked Sep 24, 2026

Carte de séjour for retirees (résident)

A one-year residence card, renewable indefinitely as long as the pension keeps arriving.

Who qualifies

Applicants must show regular transfer of a pension or other income into a Tunisian bank account, generally at least the equivalent of €400 a month (about $440), plus proof of housing and a valid passport.
Idaraty.tn, Obtention de la carte de séjour pour étrangers (Retraité)
The application is filed at the local police station roughly 3 months after arrival, once residence and income are established.
Idaraty.tn, Obtention de la carte de séjour pour étrangers (Retraité)

You keep your U.S. citizenship.

Does it fit your family?

2 questions, from the program’s own rules.

Steady monthly income, from any source?

Not legal advice.

What it takes.

Income: At least $440 a month, steady and documented.
Time: A few weeks to a few months from application to card in hand.
Cost: About $100–300 in fees and translations; no investment required.
The hard part: Opening the local bank account and establishing the pattern of regular transfers the police require to see before they issue the card.

Dollar figures are converted from the local currency at the rate the program’s research used; the official figure is in the local currency.

Citizens by 2033.

If your first permit is issued in 2027 and you keep living there, this is the road.

2027
First residence permit
1 year, renewable for 1 year at a time.
2028
Renew the permit
Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 1 year.
2029
Renew the permit
Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 1 year.
2030
Renew the permit
Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 1 year.
2031
Renew the permit
Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 1 year.
2032
Permanent residence
Five years without a break on temporary residence (each card up to one year), then an ordinary residence visa and card, valid two years and renewable.
2032
Apply for citizenship
With a language test.
2033
Citizenship

Language: Enough Arabic for the applicant's situation in life; no set level or test.
Time away: Habitual residence in Tunisia for the five years right before applying. The grant is by decree and discretionary.
Two passports: Yes. You keep your U.S. citizenship.

A yearly card; after five unbroken years it can become a two-year ordinary residence card, and naturalisation opens after five years but is rarely granted.
Bills before Parliament in 2026 would raise the naturalisation clock to seven consecutive years and require legal entry; not law as of 27 August 2026 (Business News). Re-check before relying on five.
Dual citizenship: the Code does not ask naturalising foreigners to renounce, and Tunisians who take another nationality lose Tunisian nationality only by decree; read from the Code, not an official guidance page.
Naturalisation of foreigners is described in practice as rare; no official numbers or decision times found.
How long the decision takes isn’t published; we allow a year.

The law behind these dates

Décret n° 68-198 du 22 juin 1968 on entry and residence of foreigners (arts. 15, 18, 36) · checked 2026-09-25
Code de la nationalité tunisienne, arts. 19–23 (naturalisation) · checked 2026-09-25
Code de la nationalité tunisienne, full text (arts. 30–35 on loss of nationality) · checked 2026-09-25

Living there.

Time you must spend there: No fixed day count, but the permit assumes the holder is actually resident and the pension keeps arriving.
Tax: Foreign retirees who become Tunisian tax residents and route their pension through a local account are taxed on only 20% of it (an 80% abatement), where a tax treaty exists with the home country.

We never file a tax return. We tell you what applies and brief the professional who does.

Start today.

Start at Tunisia's e-government portal for the foreigner's residence card.Open idaraty.tn ↗
Round up the papers.
- Proof of steady income: at least $440 a month
- Request your FBI Identity History Summary
- Health cover for the move

Or let us run it.

$900for your first year as a founding member. Then $399 a year, automatically.Standard first year: $1,200. Everyone renews at $399.One membership, the whole family. Accounts and activation included.

21 steps, from the first paper to the passport. You do 4 of them: send what we ask for, sign, and show up. We run the rest, and keep every permit renewed on time. Accounts and activation are included, whether you move now or keep the plan ready. Accounts depend on provider availability. Government, record and approved third-party charges are extra.

Run it for my family →

ISSUED TO

YOUR FAMILY

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