French Ambassador: Algeria's visa quota is guaranteed

In light of the controversy over the French embassy in Algeria’s decision to reject several application files of the Schengen visa granted to the Algerians, Frances’ ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driencourt, hastened to reassure Algerians that France is not reducing the quota of visas.

“Information about the reduction of visas for Algerians is untrue,” the French ambassador said in press statements on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony.

Driencourt added “the Consulate General of France is not currently considering the reduction of the quota of Visas provided to Algerians.”

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Driencourt’s statement regarding the visa issue came after the French authorities included an amendment to the Immigration and Refugee Act, which provides for a reduction in the number of visas granted to nationals of countries that have a history of sending illegal immigrants to French and are not adequately cooperating with Paris for their repatriation. This measure could involve Algerians for several considerations, the most important of which is that Paris classifies Algeria among the less-cooperating countries in this matter by 52 per cent of the applications submitted to it.

In a previous edition, Echorouk newspaper has tackled this issue in details. It mentioned that the first consideration that can suggest this hypothesis is the tension that prevailed in the visa issue during the last period between the two countries through the statements of French Ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driencourt, in April.

Driencourt revealed that 10 thousand Algerian people have remained as illegal immigrants in Paris after the end expiration of the visas granted to them, in addition to senior officials in the French state who are getting medical treatments in France as illegal immigrants and leaving debts behind them amounting to 10 thousand Euros.

Algerians have recently “protested” against the decisions to reject their visa application files by French consulates, including journalists, doctors, and lawyers, even though they already have previous expired visas.

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