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, with the law behind every answer

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. Bill 17/2026, in Parliament’s Rights and Freedoms Committee since March 2026, would raise this to seven consecutive years and require legal entry; it is not law.
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.
How long the decision takes isn’t published; we allow a year.

The law behind these dates

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 pay 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 ↗
Gather these documents.
- Proof of steady income: at least $440 a month
- Request your FBI Identity History Summary
- Health cover for the move

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The official application forms, submission and recovery specification are not complete. Postern cannot run this application yet.

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