Drone Laws in Morocco
Last update on 30.05.2020 | 37 Kommentare
In this post, you will learn which laws apply to the use of drones in Morocco.
Since March 2015, the government has prohibited the import of drones for security reasons. Companies may use drones in Morocco only with a special permit. However, private use is completely prohibited.
Anyone caught in Morocco with a drone must expect the drone to be confiscated. In addition, a fine of 1,165 Dihrams (about 110 euros) must be paid. If you declare your drone upon entering the country, you can hope that you will get it back when leaving it.
The information can be useful if you want to travel to another country from Morocco. If that is not the case, then I would leave the copter at home to avoid further trouble.
We have researched the listed drone regulations for Morocco to the best of our knowledge. We cannot guarantee the correctness of the information. If you want to be on the safe side, contact the competent aviation authority. Alternatively, you can also ask the embassy in your country for further information about the regulations. Please leave us a comment when you receive news and/or gain experience with your copter in Morocco!
Hi Bina and Francis,
I speak from bitter experience on using a drone in Morocco. Without prior checks, I took my DJI Spark to Morocco in January.
Upon arrival all our luggage was xrayed but the drone was not spotted. I used it several times during our trip and got some great shots of the landscape, including the Sahara desert.
When it was time to fly back home, we entered the airport, again any luggage is checked by security before being allowed to be taken into the building. They immediately noticed the drone this time and I was asked by police officer to come with him. He led me into an office and told me that the usage of the drone was not permitted in Morocco. I apologised and told him that I had not been aware of the law. I then had to fill in lengthy forms, my passport was copied and address taken. He was fairly friendly and when I asked him what would happen now, I expected to pay a fine as it is usually custom in the country, he told me that it was up to customs to decide.
Once I was seated with the customs officer, a rude guy who took his job way too serious and also was very obviously not fond of independent women, I knew that I would not be able to take the drone home with me. I also noticed a large number of drones in many sizes, including some very expensive models on a sideboard. He told me I should have never brought the drone to Morocco! I asked him if I could pay a fine which he declined straight away. Funnily enough, he let me take my card with all the photos and the battery, plus cables.
It was definitely an experience that I would not want anyone else to go through and hope my extensive account will make sure others refrain from taking a drone to Morocco. On the other hand I am happy to have the photos I took during the holiday…
Vanessa
https://wanderlustplusone.com
Hello Vanessa,
Oh, that sounds horrible. Anyway, I hope you had a great time in Morocco, and you have more luck in the future. Best regards and thank you for your report,
Francis
It is too terrible….
Can I know which airport you was taken away?
Hi,
Thank you for this post and for your experience sharing.
Security reasons Can bé understod but what about the right of individuels to enjoy filming and phographing with drones? It’s negative side of this law.
I agree completely.
I have just visited Morocco flying into Marrakech in July 2018 . I had my drone with me. All I had to do was declare it before going through customs. It was a little office to the side of the scanners. The customs officers were very friendly and helpful. They held it for me for 11 days and I picked it up when I flew out. It cost me 210 Moroccan Dirham for them to keep it. They have a sign clearly stating drones need to be declared. They were very vigalent when I was going through customs to depart but I just had to show my customs receipt, that they had my drone while I was in Morocco.
One happy traveler with her drone after being to Morocco!!!
Good to know! How was the process to get the drone back at the airport when departing? Was it long?
Hi Lisa,
Great to hear. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
We are on our way back to Lisbon today after being in Morocco for one week. On entering the country at RAK you go through customs and the last stop has two screaning areas: One line for nothing to declare and another for declaring items. Bring only your drone in a protective case to the first office in the declare line. Batteries, controller etc you should keep with you. Customs will ask to see your passport, plane ticket for your arrival, itinerary, and proof of where you will be staying. Once they have everything documented they will give you a receipt. Keep it in a safe place. When you go back to pick up your drone return to the same office with your receipt, passport, and boarding pass. Pay them a 201 dh storage fee and they return your drone and escort you to security. As long as you have all the proper documentation you will have no trouble. Plan for an additional 20 minutes min both coming and going.
Thank you for your helpful comment! 🙂
Hi!
Just wondering, does anyone have experience with what to do if you are entering from Marrakech but departing through Tangier?? I can happily declare my drone and pay for storage but I am not returning to Marrakech. Any idea?? Thank you!
Post ahead from your prior country, back home or possibly you can find a recipient in your destination country (Gibraltar I assume).
Alternately, if your drone is of the folding kind then do so, remove the blades and disguise the parts within your luggage. Think how it will look on the scanner and mix it amongst other electricals. If spotted say it is a piece of camera equipment as a last ditch effort / missed the signs etc. The usual airport scanner crew are not forensic in the process so it shouldn’t be an issue.
Exiting through Tangier should be straight forward.
I just had this happen today. Declared drone in Marrakech but i’m flying out of tangier. They said oh well, i need to fly out of marrakech our of country to get it back. I’m not sure what to do now. The countries i’m visiting next allow it so I didn’t have a problem declaring, just wasn’t thinking about flying out a different airport. Any ideas. I leave marrakech in 3 days
i had same situation this morning, the officer told me i Could sent it back to my homecountry by Fedex… but the operaing office doesnt work today cuz its weekend so i have to wait till weekendays.. but i still scare if this solution possible or not
Jim. Do you know anyone that has successfully smuggled a drone in and out? I’m taking a Landcruiser in next month, so have plenty of places to hide a DJI Spark. Do customs totally pull apart random vehicles for inspection?
hey，we have same situations！i entred by Fes and gonna leave by tangier. My drone was just taken by the customs this morning. Could u tell me whats ur solution finally？Thx！
Take an internal flight so you can collect your drone and declare in your departure city, that’ll save you changing your foreign flights, and will be cheaper than changing your flight. Can do Marrakesh to Tangier for £22 one-way!
Now I’m in a similar situation – sailing into Morocco from Canary Islands in Agadir, then leaving by sea at Tanger…. not sure if I should bring Mavic with me even though we’ll be in Canary Islands first, then Morocco, Gibraltar and Spain in the end of our trip….
Hi all! Very helpful post unfortunate not reading it until now that my mavic air has been confiscated.
I ferried into tangier from Algeciras, there was no X-ray or even signs posting drones needed to be declared so I walked into Morocco casually. I shot a bit here and there and then when leaving via Menara Airport in Marrakech, X-ray machine detects my drone and I learn the hard way that these are illegal.
Same as I read from another post, police very kind took my information then guided me to customs where a burocrat who hates his job and life screamed at me when I pleaded with him and tried to make him understand that there where no signs at the ferry port and that I was sorry and am leaving the country. Oddly enough another customs official let me take the card and battery but not the remote. I was tempted to smash the drone to pieces (if I can’t have it neither can you) but he ripped it out of my hand. So if I can take the card why not the drone? Evidently it’s not fear of my having spy photos and it obviously wasn’t used for terrorism so why keep it? Is it punishment or a new gift for the kid at home?
They say I can write a letter explaining and might get it back, somehow. I’m pretty sure this will only cause my grief to extend for a few weeks or months of no response or negatives but I guess worth a try. Anybody recover a drone from Marroquín authorities before?
I’ll keep you posted.
Hi anybody over here
Who got drone confiscated and then returned by the government later?
They kept my drone and told me to get intouch with the airport authority once the police finishes their investigation. Please let me know if you got it back then how.
Sadly, same story here… trying to communicate with the Moroccan authority via emails but not successful so far.
When I left Marrakech, the custom/police did tell me I should get it back (but only in person).
Hi.
Drone flying in Morocco is prohibited. We planned the trip just 3 days before departure and left w/o checking regulations before. Basically, I can confirm all statements above. Morocco just doesn’t want to see drones. Terrorist background fear or just pretending purpose … I don’t know. Fact is that they are not allowed prior permission (is this granted if requested?). My “adventure” was in RAK. Two Customs scanners at the exit just behind the passport control – one for stuff to declare and one for nothing to declare. Anyone will detect your drone. You are asked to open the suitcase. They bring you w/ the drone to a separate room just next door. They keep the drone for free 3 days, thereafter you have to pay 201 (two zero one) MAD (Moroccan Dirham) deposit fees. You receive a deposit receipt. For info …. if the drone is caught during entry into the country, you get it back against the mentioned deposit fee when leaving the country (that’s the lucky situation). If you are caught w/ a drone while leaving Morocco, then the drone is history.
When coming to the airport for departure, be in time. 3 hours prior STD should be enough. Passport control eats up 30 minutes at least !!! For some reason, they take ages (also for entry by the way). Security checks (2) burn another 15 minutes. Get yourself the boarding pass first, then go to the arrival hall (from the departure hall, not directly from the outside). The “counter” operates 24/7. Show the deposit receipt. They bring you to the stock, where I saw +50 drones lying around. You get your drone, pay the 201 DAM. I didn’t have 1 DAM, just 200 DAM – and that was ok!. The guys are friendly since they see the tourist, not the bad guy. Basically they just do their job. The second security check just needs the receipt of deposit fee payment to let you through. That’s it.
However while driving through Morocco, I say quite some drones flying around.
Is there a way to get a permit if the drone footage would be for Charity purposes and fight was only in the dessert? Does anyone know of a way to apply for a temporary permit with conditions?
Guys. Doing anything that breaks rules always has a bypass, especially in countries like Morocco. I have taken drones in and out by car 10+ times with no issue, but never flying. Firstly, Enter Morocco at Nador as there is no xray machine and you are coming in from Melilla so it is less strict. The same rules apply for getting out. Most the time I put the drone in the roof tent, which has never been checked ever, but if there is no queue then I give the drone to a taxi driver plus €10 and he takes it through. Summary – it is easy if you are not flying and I bet I could get one through Agadir airport
If I travel to morroco via ferry with my drone and do not use it, then fly out of Marrakech to another destination. Will it get confiscated?
I have lived 7 years in Morocco.
I understand why they don’t want anyone to film what is going on in that evil country.
Morocco is probably the only country in the world where the police is the Mafia. They run drug transport, prostitution, they rape girls (maroc citizens) in prison, they even have a special secret prison where Maroc citizens who are against the king or who just do not want the corruption that the whole country is based on.
I have been stopped by the police at least 7 times.
Two times by traffic police who makes up a “traffic violation” even if I have not done anything wrong, just to take money from me.
I have been stopped just by having a Maroc female friend in the car with me. The worst situation was when sitting in the car with engine off, and the police came and just because it was 10 PM in evening they though of course I was a sex tourist and my female Maroc friend was a prostitute, so they took her in the police car and beat her, and asked her if she was still a virgin….
And me they wanted 10 000 dh… “you have a big problem now”… the fucked up Maroc police son of a bitch said to me.
It all ended when my friend came back almost crying, and I had 600 on me and she had 400. So together we had 1000 dh.
They wanted us to go with them to a place to do a DNA test on my ****, to see if we had had any sex in the car.
I had no time for this shit due to I was just about to drive my female Maroc friend home to her mother when the police came. So we paid the 1000 dh to the asshole Maroc police and the moment he and his two other police colleges could share the 1000 dh, everything changed and the police who talked to me, who did not have uniform on him, started now to smile and ask what I was doing in Morocco… I told him I worked in Morocco with my own company…. and that I am not a sex tourist….
Maroc men have no respect for Maroc girls, what so ever. Specially not Maroc girls who do not dress in “typical Muslim clothes”. And the only reason why Maroc officials and citizens are nice to us “white people” is because of MONEY.
Each and every white man and woman who comes to Morocco is more or less…. no… wait … let me specify…
White MEN are “money” for Maroc people and “SEX FOR MONEY but not for marriage” for most Maroc girls, and white girls/women who comes to Morocco are “money and free sex”, for the Maroc men.
And the most dangerous for white men are Maroc girls, specially for us who are in for a serious relationship. Because most Maroc girls are from poor families, and they have 0 respect for money, and the most expensive is to get a Maroc “girlfriend”, because that is even a “job” for this girls, who anyway will have to marry a Maroc man, due to 99% of Maroc men who see a Maroc girl with a white man think she is a prostitute, and only when she is married to a Maroc man and she wear a scarf on her head, maroc men “respect” her.
So racism in Morocco towards both white people and black people are extreme.
But in different ways.
After the two Scandinavian girls, one Danish and one Norwegian got brutally group raped and brutally murdered by 13 ! Maroc men in the mountain outside Marrakech, I have not come back to Morocco.
Not that I can understand the extreme naive approach European travel agencies and tourists have when it comes to Morocco and women safety.
As I wrote before, Maroc men have no respect for girls, So how two Scandinavian girls can think Morocco is like Scandinavia, where girls can go camping alone ….
Not that I blame the girls at all.
So of course drones are forbidden to use in Morocco.
Because tourism is the most important income where more then 7 million tourists visit Morocco every year, and Marrakech would not even exist if tourists stop coming, and sex tourism is the most important income, as Saudi men every year come in great numbers to experience their sex fantasies with 12 years old Maroc girls, and the Arabs from rich oil countries even rent whole hotels to do what ever they want…..
Because Morocco is a extremely poor Muslim country, and the girls are extremely beautiful and …. here comes the sad story….. it’s the mother of the girls who put them in prostitution….
I don’t know if I will go back to Morocco, even if I still do business in that country…. but I would LOVE to smuggle in a drone and film all this Mafia cops doing crimes against humanity… and show it to the world….
The only thing that exists in Morocco….. is money… with other words… there are no moral, no honor, no humanity and no ethics what so ever in that country….
if you want to have sex 100 times a day with 100 girls… then Morocco is the country for you…
But if you want to have sun, nice food, to use your drone, be in a country where the police does not stop you because you are in a car with a girl, go to Spain, France, Italy and if you want to go to a African country, go to Gambia or Kenya.
Very interesting reading, I arrived in Fes with my Spark, saw no signage at customs anywhere, went through all the scanners and not detected, flew from Fes to Marakesh and nothing again at Fes, upon arrival in Marakesh just about had a heart attack at the signage, but I’d already put my bags through the scanner, after a nervous moment or two my bag came out the other side and I noticed the operator was on his phone!!!! Flying out of Casablanca so I’ll separate my kit, take the blades off and wrap a hairdryer cable around it along with my toothbrush… fingers crossed, Will update
Steve L so u got through or not?
I successfully smuggled in and out my mavic air, although I don’t recommended to try it. Just mix you compact drone with other stuff such as power-banks or hairdryer and put it in a vertical position (xray works up-to-down and not on the sides). Spot which security line has the laziest controller and you should be fine.
I arrived to Marrakech and immediately saw the no drone sign. I thought that if you declared you could keep it, but no. I declared they scanned my bags and did not even see it! They had to scan it again and asked me if that was really my bag! When i took it out they took me to another room where they gave me a paper and told me that i could get it back when we exit Morroco. The problem is our plan is to exit Morroco from the north by Ferry to Spain…. If I had known this i would have taken my chances and said nothing. We asked if it could be sent to the exit port where we are departing from and they said no. We asked if it could be shipped by post to our home they said most likely no and that we have to go to the post to know. We arrived ant night so no way to know tomorrow is Friday and Fridays they don’t work. We start out tour on Sunday still thinking if we should book flight all the way back and fly tk Spain instead of the initial plan…. I don’t u understand why they don’t offer this services (shipping it back home, shipping it to your place of departure) they can make money out of it. To be honest I would pay because it will save me the hassle of flying back and changing plans and some peace of mind than leaving it here not knowing if you can come back and if you do if they actually give it back.
I was in Morocco for 3 weeks in November 2019 starting in Spain landing in Tangier Med, 2000 miles around Morocco and back to Med on motorbikes. I have to say that mine and the 6 other riders that were with me had some very different experiences to those mentioned above, that not to say it doesnt/didnt happen. I contacted the Moroccan embassy weeks before setting off to clarify the drone issue, I have a Mavic Pro and wanted to use it. I was given a lot of useful info by a very helpful lady there. The gist was no drones, no special permits for foreigners and if footage was wanted to hire a professional drone company from the list she provided me with.
She wouldn’t say why they are banned.
We were not searched on the way in and it was very clear from all of the signs drones were banned, I kicked myself after getting my paperwork sorted thinking it would have been easy. the ferry we came on was packed, it was really hot and people were getting frustrated, as I trundled up to the money exchange i was spitting feathers I had not brought it. However, on the way out was a very different story, all the bikes were put into the mobile scanner and I caught a glimpse of what it could see…..the xray was multicoloured for different materials and they search the panniers of those that had electronics and plastics. fortunately we were ok but if you had taken one, done some epic footage and thought you were home and dry you would have been very much mistaken and the drone would have been confiscated….who takes out the card until they are home or d/loading to a drive…..everything would have gone. So, I wouldn’t risk it , the interactions we had from the police, which was very little was professional and helpful, there are lots of road blocks and everyone one of them we passed they were searching vehicles (of locals) as soon as I saw one I would step out into the middle of the road so they could see me and we were waved through without exception…many waving or saluting. I travel in many countries and I think the rule needs to be respect the countries regulations, I fear many Europeans/Westerners believe that we have some form of immunity to other countries laws which of course we don’t and when we break those laws and get caught believe we are being picked on unfairly. If you cannot travel to a foreign country and obey the rules then get caught…. you need to stop whining, If you travel to a foreign country without finding out the rules that’s ignorance and stupidity, we expect foreigners coming to OUR countries to obey OUR laws why would you not respect the same for theirs?
Thank you for sharing your experience, Martyn! This site aims to inform people about the drone regulations in different countries and it is always helpful to learn how they are enforced.
As a Moroccan living I the US. I can answer to the question of why are drones forbidden in Morocco to the best of my knowledge. It’s because of the privacy . If you live in countries where you have a triangular shaped roof your house is covered. Not only old style Morocco homes have the “backyard”inside the house and you can see it from above. But the roof top become the coolest place to sleep during hot weather. People sleep half naked( those are the same people that walk covered head to toe) if you fly a drone above a traditional house you will see everything and everyone. The companies that use drones in Morocco are well known and they have licenses and courses taken. And if they need to face charges they are there. Once you leave Morocco and share footage. They don’t have the same authority on you as a tourist. So they banned them all together
Hello guys has any of you tried other airports in morocco? Like in mohammed V international airport. Is it just the same at RAK/Merekech airport you think?