Living in Iraq as a French National: Visa, Security, Schools and Daily Life

The France Diplomatie “Safety” page divides the country into zones. The red zones (formally advised against) include in particular the area around the Syrian border, the northern mountains close to the Turkish and Iranian borders, most of the 20 km strip along the Iranian border, part of the governorates of Anbar, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk, Babil, Diyala and Nineveh, the outlying districts of Baghdad, and, in the Kurdistan region, the Kurdish line of coordination in the governorate of Erbil as well as sectors of Sulaymaniyah and eastern Dohuk.

The orange zones (advised against except for compelling reasons) include Karbala, Babil, Qadisiyah, Muthanna, Dhi Qar, the city of Basra, Wasit, Maysan, the city of Baghdad excluding the outlying districts, the city of Mosul with the Mosul-Erbil road, and, in Kurdistan, the corridor linking Zakho to Halabja via Dohuk, Erbil, Koya and Sulaymaniyah. This reading should be done before any residence decision, with the employer, the French embassy in Baghdad and the consulate general in Erbil. The guide health insurance in Iraq presents the general framework.

France Diplomatie states that an entry visa is required. For federal Iraq, the tourist visa has no longer been issued on arrival since 1 March 2025: the application is made online before the trip, on the official e-visa portal (evisa.iq), which describes a 30-day permit, single or multiple entry, delivered by email and to be printed for the border check; the passport must be valid and a digital photograph on a white background is requested. NGO members, journalists and business travellers cannot use the e-visa: they file their application with the Iraqi embassy in Paris (fee of €50, form, two photographs, copy of the passport, and for business travellers company documents). Journalists add an official request from their employer to the Iraqi communications and media authority.

For the Kurdistan region only, a 30-day visa is issued on arrival at an airport of the region or at the Ibrahim Khalil land crossing, coming from Turkey, for IQD 103,000 prepaid online; it is not needed with a valid Iraqi visa. Overstaying requires requesting an exit visa from the residence affairs directorate, with a penalty of IQD 500,000 plus IQD 10,000 per day. Longer-term residence permits fall under this directorate of the Ministry of the Interior for the federal territory; the procedure, documents and timeframes should be confirmed with the Iraqi embassy in Paris and the employer, who generally carries out the formalities. Neither tax identification numbers nor registration with a local authority are detailed in the France Diplomatie pages.

France has an embassy in Baghdad (Abu Nawas district) and a consulate general in Erbil (33 Salahaddin Street). Baghdad also hosts the Institut français d’Irak, the only foreign cultural institute in the capital according to the ministry, with a Campus France space. Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, in Kurdistan, concentrate the schools of the French network.

The France Diplomatie map places the city of Baghdad in an orange zone excluding the outlying districts, that of Basra in an orange zone, and the Kurdish corridor from Zakho to Halabja in an orange zone as well. The choice of city, neighbourhood and housing is therefore a matter of safety as much as budget; the general recommendations are developed below. Health services, schooling and means of transport vary greatly from one city to another.

Pupils at the French school in Erbil learn Kurdish, Arabic and English in addition to French, which gives an idea of the languages useful in daily life in the region. French teaching is also present in the Iraqi system: the Iraqi Ministry of Education counted 350 institutions teaching the language, according to the French embassy page on cultural cooperation. In Baghdad, the Institut français d’Irak offers courses and cultural activities and hosts a Campus France space.

For social life, the employer, the embassy and the consulate general remain the reference contacts: they know the up-to-date instructions, the places that can be frequented and the travel conditions. Gatherings, demonstrations and unaccompanied travel are to be prepared for, in line with the France Diplomatie recommendations.

The Agency for French Education Abroad follows two schools in Iraq, both in Iraqi Kurdistan. In Erbil, the École internationale française Danielle-Mitterrand (Baharka road) shows 104 pupils and 16 levels, 9 of them accredited; the CNED (French distance-learning service) takes over for the première and terminale classes (the last two years of lycée). In Sulaymaniyah, the École française Danielle-Mitterrand has 50 pupils and 8 accredited levels. Numbers and levels change: the page of each school in the AEFE directory gives the up-to-date figures.

No accredited French school exists in Baghdad. A family living there considers the CNED, a local international school or placing the children in a school of the network in Kurdistan. The embassy and the consulate general in Erbil provide information on AEFE scholarships.

France Diplomatie lists several risks, presented here factually: kidnapping with ransom demand (outside the Kurdistan region), organised crime, frequent demonstrations, particularly in the south, the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance in former conflict zones, and road risk, with frequent and often fatal accidents. Terrorism is assessed as high in certain areas (Tamim, Salah al-Din, Diyala, Anbar, south of Mosul, Makhmour) and latent elsewhere.

• Register on Ariane before departure to receive alerts.
• Avoid the red zones and night-time travel.
• Do not travel alone; use armoured vehicles and secure hotels.
• Avoid gatherings and do not share your location on social networks.
• Rely on trusted local contacts and keep a reference person informed.

France Diplomatie states that tap water should not be drunk anywhere in Iraq: poisonings linked to its quality are regularly reported. Only drinks in sealed bottles or water made safe by filtration, boiling or disinfectant are suitable, and fruit and vegetables should be peeled or washed in safe water. The ministry recommends buying your first-aid kit and treatments for chronic diseases in France, because counterfeit medicines are widespread, and not buying anything from street vendors.

An assistance contract or insurance covering all medical costs, surgery, hospitalisation and medical repatriation is presented as essential: without it, access to care can be refused, even in a life-threatening emergency, and the embassy does not pay these costs. Insurers can direct their clients to reference hospitals in Baghdad or in the region, and evacuations to Dubai or France remain possible. The detail is on the pages Iraq’s healthcare system and healthcare reimbursement in Iraq. As for the currency, the Iraqi dinar (IQD) coexists with an official rate and a market rate. The up-to-date exchange benchmarks appear in the “Economic indicators” block of this page.

To work on the spot, see the page working in Iraq.