Recently, there has been a diplomatic crisis between France and Algeria, with the French Minister of Interior, Bruno Retailleau, calling for the termination of the Franco-Algerian agreement.

However, despite rumours, sources have said for Visa Algerie that there are only some organisational problems linked to preparations for the departure of VFS Global and TLS Contact, stressing that France has neither frozen nor blocked the visa application process for Algerians.

Taking their frustration to social media, a number of Algerian nationals have said that they are dealing with many difficulties when trying to obtain a French Schengen visa. They stressed that it has become especially difficult to secure an appointment and that there are processing delays.

Since these difficulties have been attributed to be related to the work that is being done to replace the current outsourcing companies, it is yet to be seen if the new outsourcing company, Capago International, will play a role in resolving the issues.

Worsening Tension Between France & Algeria

There has been a worsening tension between France and Algeria, which is pushing the French authorities to impose measures against some Algerian nationals.

The French Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, said earlier this month that the country is considering putting an end to visa-free entry for Algerian diplomatic passport holders.

During an interview, Minister Darmanin noted that Algerians with diplomatic passport holders should no longer have the right to visa-free entry to the country and called for a review of the agreement reached between the two countries in 2012.

The statement of Minister Darmanin came after France deported an Algerian influencer inciting violence, but authorities of Algeria refused to take him and sent him back to France the same day.

Data from the Schengen Statistics Portal show that in 2023, Algerians were the top applicants who had their visas denied by France. During that year, France refused a total of 93,151 Schengen visa applications filed by Algerians. Spain, Italy, Malta, and Belgium were the other top five Schengen member states that refused the highest number of applications for Algerians.