French Embassy: “Quota Of Visas” Earmarked For Algerians Before Year End

The French Embassy in Algeria has taken urgent measures to enable Algerians to secure a visa application deadline not exceeding 15 days.

Taking the floor at a press conference held at the French embassy premises in Algiers, the French  Ambassador His Excellency Xavier Driancourt confirmed that all the dates proposed by the TLS contact services have been obtained by the visa applicant until 31 January 2018, representing about 130 thousand fixed appointments with many of them being withheld by dishonest people, as he put it .

In view of this tricky situation, the French Ambassador explained that urgent remedial measures have been taken to this effect. 

Since 17 September 2017, different time frames have been allocated daily to the large public in order to make them secure an appointment in an estimated period of 15 days. “This system will be extended, so as to allow other visa applicants to take an early appointment”, he explained.

The Ambassador announced that about 30 thousand additional dates would be granted before the end of the year and the situation would return to normal starting from January 2018.

The French ambassador attributed the turbulence recorded in the process of taking appointments with TLS Contact to “the dishonest intermediaries who book dates at TLS Contact to make a financial profit by selling them to visa applicants.” 

On 17 September 2017, the French consulates in the cities of Algiers, Oran and Annaba accounted for 40 per cent of cancellations for non-attendance of consular officers.

Regarding the number of visas granted by the Embassy of France in Algeria, the Ambassador pointed out that there has been a “significant increase”. In 2016, 410,522 visas were granted, while in 2017, 417,000 visa applications were issued by 31 August.

He also considered that the continuation of this steady pace would hike the number of visa applications to reach 626 thousand by the end of the year.

With regard to the visas granted to Algerian students wishing to complete their studies in France, the French Ambassador pointed out that “they are on the increase.” 

As of September 17th, 2017, only 238 visa applications out of 1,858 files remained pending until 6th September.

Mr Xavier Driancourt also indicated that the average number of student visa applications received per day at the consular level was 80, adding that 7,431 long-term student visas were delivered in 2016, up 31 percent from 2015 and 113 percent from 2014.