What happens when I land at a Moroccan airport (immigration / arrival process)?

Here is the honest, step-by-step reality, because the arrivals hall at Marrakech-Menara or Casablanca catches a lot of first-timers off guard. You disembark, follow the "Police / Immigration" signs, and on the way you will usually be handed (or find on a stand) a small white disembarkation card. Fill it in before you join the queue — name, passport number, flight, your address in Morocco (your first hotel or riad is fine), and purpose of visit ("tourism"). Having it completed in advance is the single easiest way to shave time off the line.

At the desk the officer checks your passport, often asks one or two friendly questions — where are you staying, how long — stamps you in, and that is it. Most nationalities (UK, EU, US, Canada, Australia and many more) get up to 90 days visa-free, so for the vast majority of guests there is no visa to arrange and no fee to pay on arrival. I will be straight with you: the queues at Marrakech in particular can be genuinely slow at peak times, when several wide-body flights land together, so do not panic if it crawls — it is normal, not a problem with you.

Past immigration you collect your checked bags from the carousel, then walk through customs. For the overwhelming majority of tourists this is a green-channel, nothing-to-declare walk-through with no questions; bags are occasionally scanned but it is informal. There are ATMs and currency-exchange desks in the hall — I usually tell guests to draw a modest amount of dirham here for the taxi and first tips, since the dirham is a closed currency you cannot easily get before you arrive.

My practical advice: budget a full hour from the moment the wheels touch down to standing at the curb, more if you land at a busy slot. Pre-arrange your transfer so a driver is waiting with your name on a board — it removes the one genuinely stressful bit, which is the unregulated taxi scrum outside arrivals. Have your hotel address written down for the arrival card and the driver, keep a pen in your hand luggage, and confirm current visa rules for your nationality before you fly, as entry policies can change.