Before you start

Carte de séjour, or the récépissé plus a residence certificate under three months old
Valid original foreign licence
Translation into Arabic or French where the licence is in another language
Photographs and the fee

Step-by-step

1
Check reciprocity before anything else
Exchange depends entirely on whether Morocco and the issuing state recognise each other's licences. If yours does not, there is no exchange route and no appeal — budget for an auto-école instead.
OnlineWho: YouBefore month 12
2
Apply through NARSA and surrender the original
The file goes through NARSA's services portal and regional office. You hand over the original licence, which is sent to the issuing authority abroad for verification. Fees run to a few hundred dirhams including stamps.
OnlineWho: You≈MAD 700 including timbres
3
Drive on the sixty-day provisional while verification runs
NARSA issues a provisional permit valid around sixty days. The verification with your home authority is the slow and uncontrollable part; if you plan to drive abroad during it, get an international permit before you surrender anything.
In personWho: You≈60 days
4
Understand that the medina is not driveable
Most of the old city is inaccessible to cars. If you live inside the walls you will park outside — at Bab Doukkala, Bab Laksour or a paid lot — and walk or take a motorbike in. Factor a monthly parking cost, and the walk, into any medina housing decision.
In personWho: You
5
Decide whether the car is for the city or for leaving it
Inside Marrakech, petits taxis and the growing ride-hailing options cover almost everything cheaply. The genuine case for a car is the Atlas, the Ourika and Imlil valleys, Essaouira and the coast. That is a different vehicle decision — clearance and reliability matter more than city manners.
In personWho: You
6
Learn the mountain-road rules before your first Atlas drive
Atlas roads are narrow, unfenced and shared with trucks and livestock, and weather closes passes in winter. The Tizi n'Tichka toward Ouarzazate is the classic first drive and is more demanding than it looks on a map. Do it in daylight the first time.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Original foreign driving licence
Translation into Arabic or French, where required
Carte de séjour or récépissé plus residence certificate under three months old
Passport and legalised copy
Identity photographs

Things most newcomers don’t know

The twelve-month exchange window runs from taking up residence, and it is easy to sleep through.

The clock starts when you establish residence — in practice, the date on your carte de séjour or its récépissé — not when you first landed. That is generous, but it also means the deadline arrives eleven months into a year in which you were preoccupied with everything else. People discover it after it has passed, and then take the full Moroccan theory and practical tests despite decades of driving.

Source: NARSA

Reciprocity is a list, not a judgement of your competence.

Whether you can exchange without testing depends solely on whether your issuing country has an agreement with Morocco. Several English-speaking countries do not. An experienced driver from a non-agreement country sits the same code and conduite as a seventeen-year-old, in Darija or French. Check the list at month one rather than month eleven.

Source: NARSA

A medina address means a permanent parking arrangement and a walk with the shopping.

Vehicles cannot reach most medina addresses. Owning a car while living inside the walls means renting a space in a lot outside a gate, walking the last five to fifteen minutes, and moving anything bulky by handcart — the same handcarts that carry building materials. It is entirely liveable and it is not what people picture when they buy the riad.

Source: community-reported

The real driving here is out of town, and the Atlas is not a gentle introduction.

Marrakech's own streets are covered adequately by petits taxis. What a car buys is the High Atlas, the coast and the south — which means narrow unfenced mountain roads shared with trucks, seasonal closures on the high passes, and long stretches without fuel or signal. Choose the vehicle for that, drive the Tichka in daylight first, and check pass conditions in winter rather than assuming.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Missing the twelve-month exchange window and losing the right to convert.
Assuming reciprocity exists without checking NARSA's list.
Surrendering the original licence with a trip abroad already booked.
Buying a car for a medina address without arranging parking outside the walls.
Driving an Atlas pass for the first time at night or in winter without checking conditions.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.