Non-married couple living together

Hello everyone,

I am currently planning to move to Tunisia and would like to know if there are people here who have experience with living together with their boyfriend/girlfriend without being married.
If so, which city was this in, what was your experience, did you have any problems? Of course, for privacy reasons, you could also send me a private message instead of replying to the forum.

Thanks in advance

Marthe

Hello Marthe! You can't live in Tunis with your boyfriend, it's a ilegal thing ! Everywhere they ask for certificate of marriage, and if police find you 2 living together, both will get in a big trouble !!!!

Sweet26 wrote:

Hello Marthe! You can't live in Tunis with your boyfriend, it's a ilegal thing ! Everywhere they ask for certificate of marriage, and if police find you 2 living together, both will get in a big trouble !!!!


I will be living in Kelibia actually, not Tunis. But disregarding that, I do know of course it is illegal to live together but know that many couples do actually do this even when it is risky. I wanted to know if there was any expat who experienced this and how it went etc. We will have to figure things out as we can't get married yet... :(

Really i don't know anyone to live together if they are not married. They are very strict with this things, both of you can get in prison. If you want to risk... you must find people that you can trust!

just do it :p

Sweet26 wrote:

Really i don't know anyone to live together if they are not married. They are very strict with this things, both of you can get in prison. If you want to risk... you must find people that you can trust!


Well I for one know that almost every unmarried couple I know lives together. In Tunis mostly. I think if we could find a good landlord we could figure things out. I always register with the tourism police station in Kelibia (where i will live) whenever I come and they never ask any questions. I have been living in the house of my in laws for long periods at a time (mostly a month at a time) but go to the station with my boyfriend. Never any calls or questions asked. I do know in other cities it could be very different so I'm lucky I've chosen beautiful Kelibia to live in.

Yeah I know people living in Tunis together and they are unmarried couple.   MartheGh You can PM me anytime you wanna.  I think you need to know other options and don't ever tell your landlord that you are unmarried. Dress modest and be aware that you are supposed to live with your boyfriend family with separate rooms. 
     There is a lot of stigma with European and American women living alone outside Tunis.   
     I will advice you to get a ring that will make people think you are married or engaged to a man and don't show up like a rich European girl to anyone in Tunisia.   Be safety alert :)

How is the rules when i go out on a night club,  and take a girl home for one night stand for exampel ? Is this not alowed ?

DomingoAmigos wrote:

How is the rules when i go out on a night club,  and take a girl home for one night stand for exampel ? Is this not alowed ?


I assume you're not Tunisian. If the girl is Tunisian, I would really watch out if you take a taxi home at night, especially in Tunis. When police do these regular stop-and-checking of cars they could make big trouble for the girl (and you too honestly). I would really watch out in this kind of situation, especially if you walk together at night etc (for police, mostly). But it's certainly not impossible! People visit other people all the time, young people, especially in larger cities are mostly open-minded and do whatever they like, they just know how to handle situations well.

Thank you for the answer , very helpful info.
So we say that i meet a girl that are not Tunisian lets say French or from England is its allowed to have a relation or do i need to get married or somthing ?
And lets say i meet a Tunisian girl can i marrie here or not ?
Thanks
Best regards.

MartheGh wrote:
DomingoAmigos wrote:

How is the rules when i go out on a night club,  and take a girl home for one night stand for exampel ? Is this not alowed ?


I assume you're not Tunisian. If the girl is Tunisian, I would really watch out if you take a taxi home at night, especially in Tunis. When police do these regular stop-and-checking of cars they could make big trouble for the girl (and you too honestly). I would really watch out in this kind of situation, especially if you walk together at night etc (for police, mostly). But it's certainly not impossible! People visit other people all the time, young people, especially in larger cities are mostly open-minded and do whatever they like, they just know how to handle situations well.


Thank you for the answer , very helpful info.
So we say that i meet a girl that are not Tunisian lets say French or from England is its allowed to have a relation or do i need to get married or somthing ?
And lets say i meet a Tunisian girl can i marrie here or not ?
Thanks
Best regards.

foreigners can do as they like here really but would you all blatantly break the laws in your own country.  if you want respect here then respect us. it makes for a very good life

I agree with some of the people above. If you are foreigner and so is he you won't have too many problems. For safety reasons I would wear a cheap wedding band and call him your husband as well. Always assume Tunisias are conservative even if they seem open minded and remember gossip is a way of life here.

MartheGh wrote:

Hello everyone,

I am currently planning to move to Tunisia and would like to know if there are people here who have experience with living together with their boyfriend/girlfriend without being married.
If so, which city was this in, what was your experience, did you have any problems? Of course, for privacy reasons, you could also send me a private message instead of replying to the forum.

Thanks in advance

Marthe


any news ?

I was there in Djerba with my boy-friend I met here since 5 monts and now he tell me that we must marre because even not we cannot  luve together because relieus and family traditions....it' so stupide...and I REFUSE because I'm free women living and born in Luxemburg and I refuse such conservative primaire tradition!

Maboula wrote:

I was there in Djerba with my boy-friend I met here since 5 monts and now he tell me that we must marre because even not we cannot  luve together because relieus and family traditions....it' so stupide...and I REFUSE because I'm free women living and born in Luxemburg and I refuse such conservative primaire tradition!


no one is forcing u to get married. u are free to not do that and stay in luxembourg.

I am surprised it is that strict unless you are not being discreet about your unmarried status - definitely very strict for Tunisian girls and muslim women in general, but I think they turn a blind eye to non-muslim women.

Let's face it, a large slice of their tourism trade is based on .... well, I don't think I need to spell it out. I believe there was even a documentary shown on a UK TV channel about older women who go to Tunisia (Djerba I think was specifically showcased) for one thing and one thing only - to find a toy boy for a week or two.

All the younger British royals were openly living together before they got married, so I guess other stricter societies realize this is now the norm in many Western countries, even amongst 'the establishment', and feel obliged to go along with it.

They have recently relaxed rules for unmarried couples living together in the UAE - and that is generally reckoned to be a stricter society than Tunisia.

Which laws ?! Allah's...religion are not LAWS ok

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@MartheGh hello ..Marthe , did you get the answer to your this question... Did you find a safe place to be with your partner in Tunisia...

@MartheGh

@MartheGh hello, I'm American that moved to Tunisia back in 2020. Both my son and I moved here so I could be with the man that I love. I sent money in advanced for him to rent us an apartment in the Sousse area. Since then we've moved to 2 additional apartments and in every occasion we were NOT married. I have even had the police knock on my door many times to check up on the safety for both my son and myself with NO issues. They know that my then boyfriend was living in our place. We've since then been engaged and now married. But mostly it is normally the family that wants you not to live together unmarried. They wanted us to rush to get married but we didn't and took our time. We eventually got there but on our schedule. Tunisia is one of the most open Muslim countries in many ways. They do look at living together unmarried as very wrong and you know illegal. Now staying in a hotel together is a definite no no. That's where you'd get in trouble the most. But after all many tunisian people here have sex, drink, smoke wear more revealing clothes things like that here in Tunisia. I hope this helps.