Friday, 19 June 2026
The Attestation d'Accompagnement — Why It Matters in Morocco
Travel Safety Guide
The Attestation
d'Accompagnement —
Why It Matters
A simple piece of paper, legalized for two dirhams, that can save a Moroccan friend from a night in a holding cell. Here's what it is, why tourist police ask for it, and how to get one before you need it.
Medina · Marrakech
"It's a simple paper — but it's the difference between a friendly chat with a police officer and your friend spending the night in a holding cell."— On companionship checks in the Marrakech medina
Walk through Jemaa el-Fnaa or the souks of Marrakech with a Moroccan friend, and at some point — especially during busy season — you may notice a tourist police officer watching the two of you a little too closely. This isn't paranoia. It's a real, active pattern of enforcement, and there's a simple document that exists specifically to defuse it.
Government Form
not issued by the state
Copy
Moroccan companion
Hall
legalized
Zones
happen most
01 — What It Actually Is
A Private Paper, Not an Official Form
There is no government-issued "attestation d'accompagnement." Unlike a passport, visa, or residence card, this document doesn't come from a ministry or consulate. It's a one-page declaration that you and your Moroccan friend draft yourselves — naming both of you, with your ID details attached, stating simply that you are known to each other and spending time together voluntarily.
It exists entirely as a practical workaround, born out of repeated experience in Marrakech's most touristed streets, rather than any formal legal procedure.
Once written, the document needs to be legalized at a local town hall (mairie) — a stamp and a signature from the legalization office confirming the paper is genuine. After that, your Moroccan friend is the one who should carry it, since they're the one a checkpoint or patrol is likely to question.
It costs almost nothing — drafting runs around 80 dirhams, and the town hall stamp itself is a couple of dirhams. The entire process takes less than an afternoon.
"You can't write a paper for every person you cross on the street — but for someone you'll be seen with regularly, it removes the guesswork entirely."
Why This Matters
02 — The Real Stakes
Why Tourist Police Watch for This
Marrakech's tourist police carry out regular, visible checks on foreigners seen in the company of Moroccan men or women, particularly in high-traffic tourist zones like Jemaa el-Fnaa and the surrounding souks. This isn't random profiling — it's targeted enforcement against three specific problems: unlicensed fake tour guides, drug dealing disguised as friendship, and prostitution.
The foreigner risks a fine
Being unable to explain the relationship on the spot can result in a financial penalty for the visitor.
The check ends quickly
Showing the legalized paper resolves the officer's question immediately — no further questioning needed.
The Moroccan companion risks far more
A friend can face up to 48 hours in a holding cell, plus their own fine, simply for being unable to account for the relationship.
Both parties can continue freely
You can walk through tourist areas without anxiety about future stops — the paper covers ongoing time spent together.
Why it matters most for your friend: the legal and practical risk in these checks falls disproportionately on the Moroccan companion, not the tourist. A foreigner visiting Morocco might pay a fine and move on with their trip. A local resident detained overnight faces consequences that follow them — with employers, with family, with their own community.
Getting One
03 — How to Get One
A Same-Day Process
— Step by Step —
- Draft a simple one-page statement naming both people, with each person's ID or passport number, confirming you know each other and are spending time together voluntarily.
- Have a single copy of the Moroccan companion's national ID card (CIN) attached or referenced — this is the only document you need to start.
- Take the drafted paper to any local mairie (town hall) in the city where you're staying.
- Present it to the legalization office — a clerk applies the official stamp and a signature confirming authenticity, for a nominal fee of a couple of dirhams.
- Give the legalized copy to your Moroccan friend to carry — they are the one most likely to be asked for it during a check.
Drafting
Written by hand or typed, naming both parties and their ID numbers. No lawyer required.
~80 MADLegalization
Stamped and signed at the town hall's legalization office, confirming the document is genuine.
~2 MADCarrying It
Held by the Moroccan companion at all times when in tourist-heavy areas together.
FreeWhere It Matters Most
04 — Context, Not Paranoia
This Isn't Necessary Everywhere
High-Risk Zones
Checks happen most often in Marrakech's most touristed corridors — Jemaa el-Fnaa, the adjacent souks, and similar dense tourist areas in other cities. If you and a friend spend regular time walking through these zones, the document is a cheap, simple safeguard worth having.
Lower-Risk Settings
Quieter neighborhoods, smaller towns, and private settings — a friend's home, a restaurant outside the tourist core — see far less of this scrutiny. The paper isn't a nationwide legal requirement; it's a targeted precaution for a specific, well-known pattern of enforcement.
Friendship shouldn't require paperwork. But in a handful of streets in Marrakech, where police have learned to be suspicious of exactly this kind of company, a two-dirham stamp is what stands between an afternoon together and a friend's very bad night. It's a small price for a problem that shouldn't exist — and a sensible one to pay anyway.