New Procedures To Grant Visa To France In 48 Hours Do Not Include Algeria

French authorities have taken a new decision to grant visas to 10 new countries within 48 hours, a measure that did not include Algeria, whose citizens are waiting six months to be granted a “visa”, thus reversing promises that were made by the French authorities regarding the facilitation procedures for granting visas for Algerians to enter its territory.

General Syndicate of Labor, at the French Foreign Ministry, condemned the preferential policy of granting visas to countries, particularly the new decision by the French authorities to grant visas to 10 new countries within 48 hours. 

“A country like Algeria requires six months to grant a visa and we condemn these decisions that serve economic diplomacy and ignore countries with long traditions with France, such as Algeria and Mali”.

According to the website TSA (Tout Sur l’Algérie) “Everything About Algeria”, Valerie Jacq-Duclos, General Secretary of the GSL at the French Foreign Ministry, said: “It is a bad policy to grant visas to people immediately. You must have a cross or badge to obtain the visa, it is a bad choice by the French government”.

French PM said on Saturday that his country’s authorities decided to grant the visa within 48 hours to a new list of countries, and will grant them privileges at airports to facilitate their entry, in order to develop tourism, including Russia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia and India, and the list is expected to expand to include Saudi Arabia and Vietnam in 2018.

Since 2014, the visa is granted within 48 hours to China, “whose nationals are sometimes granted visas no later than 24 hours since January 2016”, and Singapore, South Africa, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Turkey as well.