Access to Social Protection by Immigrants, Emigrants and Resident Nationals in Tunisia

Abstract

Tunisia is one of the developing countries which invested the most in its social protection system and upgraded it regularly since independence to include a larger share of the population. Given the importance of emigration for the Tunisian economy and society, various bilateral social security agreements have been signed with the main countries of destination to guarantee the rights of Tunisian emigrants. The Tunisian social security ensures the same entitlements as nationals to foreign residents who have formal contracts and contribute to social insurance. However, getting these contracts is not an easy task for foreigners. Undocumented foreigners do not have any entitlements and must rely on the support of NGOs or international organizations.