Owner guides
Guest police registration in Tunisia: what hosts must do, made simple
Anyone hosting foreign guests in Tunisia must declare them to the authorities. Here is what the law says, what it leaves unclear, and how we handle the formality every day at our homes in the Medina of Tunis.
By Hichem Mathlouthi, managing director of KasbahostPublished 6 min read
Who must register guests
The duty does not depend on the type of accommodation. It applies to a hotel, a guesthouse, an Airbnb flat or a spare room lent to a foreign friend. If you hand your property to a manager, the manager usually meets the guests and files the forms, but put it in the management agreement. This guide complements our guides to opening a guesthouse and short-term rental law. For each point we say where the information comes from and, where we could not confirm it in an official source, which authority to ask.
What the law says
Law No. 68-7 of 8 March 1968 contains two articles that matter to hosts:
- Article 21: anyone who accommodates a foreign national, in any capacity and even free of charge, must inform the police or National Guard station where they live within 48 hours at most. For hoteliers and landlords of furnished rooms, the law refers to the deadline in article 7 of a decree of 12 November 1919, which we could not consult.
- Article 22: anyone letting a dwelling to a foreign national must inform the police or National Guard station where the property is located within one week.
Foreign nationals have their own duty to report changes of address, according to Decree No. 68-198 of 22 June 1968 as reproduced on legislation-securite.tn; that does not relieve the host.
What we did not find: the wording of the 1919 decree, any text covering Tunisian guests, or a specific penalty for simply failing to register. According to the text reproduced on legislation-securite.tn, the 1968 law punishes anyone who knowingly helps a foreign national stay unlawfully with one month to one year in prison and a fine; ask a lawyer or the police about your own situation. A late form is not the same thing, but it is a good reason to be rigorous.
Deadlines and where to file
| Situation | Deadline | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodating a foreign national | 48 hours at most | Local police or National Guard station |
| Letting a dwelling to a foreign national | One week at most | Station where the property is |
| Hotelier, landlord of furnished rooms | 1919 decree deadline (not confirmed) | Not stated in our sources: ask the local police |
| Tunisian guest | No text found | Ask the local police station |
Because the general deadline is 48 hours and the hoteliers' deadline is uncertain, our rule is simple: the form is completed on arrival, not the next day.
What to collect, and how to protect it
We found no published official template; your local police station can tell you what it expects. In practice a guest form records full name, date and place of birth, nationality, type and number of identity document, home address, arrival and departure dates and the address of the accommodation. A photographed passport is personal data, covered by Organic Law No. 2004-63 of 27 July 2004 and overseen by the national data protection authority (INPDP); the exact formalities for hosts should be checked with the INPDP. Collect only what the form needs, keep documents in a single tool with restricted access, and never pass passports around on staff members' personal phones or copy their numbers into other files.
Keeping on top of it
- Ask for documents before arrival, explaining that registration is compulsory in Tunisia.
- Check on arrival: match each document to its holder and count who is actually staying.
- Fill in the form straight away, in one tool, and note the time.
- File it with the police or National Guard within the deadline.
- Update it for extensions, room changes or extra guests.
- Check weekly that every stay in the calendar has its form.
The same check-in moment is when tourist tax is collected, as it depends on the number of guests and their nationality: see our tourist tax guide.
What may change
- A bill amending Law No. 68-7, mainly toughening penalties for foreigners in breach, has been put to Parliament (L'Économiste Maghrébin, 10/05/2024). We found no record of it being passed.
- Bill No. 31/2025 on furnished flats would require tenants' identities to be declared, according to the press. It has not been passed, to our knowledge.
- We found no official online service from the Interior Ministry for registering guests; your local police station will tell you which channel it accepts. We will update this guide if one opens.
What Kasbahost does
At the guesthouses and flats we manage in the Medina of Tunis, guest police forms are filed for every stay. Our day and night reception completes each arrival's form in Qayed, the guest-registration tool we use, and tracks its status from the arrival card in Diarna, our in-house software. Identity documents stay in Qayed and are not copied into Diarna. We found no official source on how this tool connects to Interior Ministry services: if you register guests yourself, ask your local police station which channel it accepts.
The same check-in covers tourist tax; invoices are issued and withholding tax appears on the owner's monthly statement. For you as an owner, police registration stops being a chore and becomes a line you can check. See our full offer for property owners, or start with the revenue estimator.
Frequently asked questions
What is a "fiche de police" in Tunisia?
It is the everyday name for a host's declaration of the guests they accommodate. Its legal basis is Law No. 68-7 of 8 March 1968 on the status of foreigners: anyone accommodating a foreign national must inform the local police or National Guard station.
How quickly must I register a foreign guest?
Within 48 hours for anyone accommodating a foreign national (art. 21), and within a week for letting a dwelling to one (art. 22). Hoteliers and landlords of furnished rooms follow a deadline set by a 1919 decree we could not consult: your local police or National Guard station will tell you which deadline it applies. The safe approach is to register on arrival.
Do Tunisian guests need registering too?
The 1968 law covers foreign nationals only. We found no text requiring a form for Tunisian guests, which does not prove there is none. Ask your local police station.
Do Airbnb or Booking.com register guests for me?
We found no source saying that platforms register guests with the Tunisian authorities. The duty falls on whoever provides the accommodation.
How does Kasbahost handle guest registration?
For every arrival at the homes we manage, our reception fills in the form in Qayed, the guest-registration tool we use. Identity documents stay in that tool and are not copied into our management software.
Sources
Consulted on 13 October 2026. Some pages could only be read through search-engine extracts; check the consolidated law in the Official Gazette (iort.gov.tn) before acting.
- Law No. 68-7 of 8 March 1968, legislation-securite.tn (French)
- Decree No. 68-198 of 22 June 1968, legislation-securite.tn (French)
- Organic Law No. 2004-63, ins.tn (official, in French)
- L'Économiste Maghrébin, 10/05/2024 (French)
- Assembly of the Representatives of the People: Bill No. 31/2025 (official, in Arabic)
Let's talk about your property
Hand over the paperwork
Police forms, tourist tax, invoices: we handle them for every stay in the Medina of Tunis. Tell us where your property is.