Here's my profile, will I do OK in Tunisia?

More than enough

Hi Tunisia Boi

I am Tunisian, i live in Australia and am a new member here, 1st I want to congratulate your daughter on her marriage, and 2nd i wanna tell you that your background is more than enough to live in Tunisia, you sound very excited to move to Tunis which is a very beautiful place either for holidays or for living, I maybe advice you to learn some Arabic I think it's very important to understand what people around you are talking about, French is very common and it's the 2nd language in Tunisia but that doesn't mean everyone will not use Arabic I guess.. Well I wish you good luck and wish your daughter all the best for her union..

I have a small concern. My income like Tunisiaboy's is independent (I'm a freelancer and do all my work remotely for a U.S. firm and am paid in American dollars into my American account). I would like to stay in Tunis at least a year, if not more depending on how much I like it, and plan to use a combination of traveler's cheques that I will bring with me to cash at banks in Tunisia for my larger expenses, as well as my ATM card to access my U.S. money for other, smaller needs. I figured this would be the best way not to lose too much money in wire transfer fees, commissions, volatile exchange rates etc. What it also does is eliminate the need for a Tunisian bank account.

Now, I read somewhere that in order to get a residency visa you have to show proof of your income and/or a rental contract. I don't think the rental contract will be a problem (I'm subletting a friend's flat, actually), but the proof of income seems to be a little less clear.

Anybody else have this issue or know someone who has?

Mr. Via,

I don't think you can have a residency in Tunisia just by showing a proof of income or rental contract, I don't know from where did you get this information, but as far as I know, in order to get a residency in Tunisia, you need either making business or work for a national or foreign company, or marry Tunisian national.. Actually you can spend around 6 months as a tourist and nobody will ask you to leave the country, and if you like to spend a year, all what you need to do is to go to the immigration service and show them a rental contract under your name for that period, like this you will be allowed to stay over 6 months in the country..
About the money, you can definitely use travelers cheques, credit cards and ATM cards and be aware that you can't withdraw cash from any bank, you ask over there in what bank you can use your ATM and how much they charge you for it..