President Emmanuel Macron moved to defuse a budding diplomatic row on 23 July, distancing himself from remarks by France’s ambassador in Algiers that Paris aimed to return to issuing roughly 250,000 Schengen visas a year to Algerian nationals. "There is no figure, and certainly no policy of laxity," government spokesperson Maud Brégeon told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting, quoting the president. The clarification follows comments on 17 July by Ambassador Stéphane Romatet, who said consular staffing increases should eventually bring issuance back to pre-2021 levels. His statement reignited a fierce domestic debate: right-wing leaders Jordan Bardella and Éric Ciotti accused the government of capitulation, while business lobbies warned that prolonged visa rationing is hurting trade flows with Algeria, France’s third-largest non-EU market. Since 2021 Paris has used visa quotas as leverage to secure better cooperation from Algiers on readmitting nationals ordered to leave France. Although volumes recovered slightly in 2025, they remain 30 % below 2019. Consular bottlenecks and appointment-scalping have further fuelled frustration among families and companies that depend on cross-Mediterranean mobility. By disavowing any numeric goal, the Élysée signals that visa policy will continue to be calibrated against Algeria’s willingness to take back its undocumented citizens. For multinational HR teams the message is clear: do not expect a sudden easing of access for Algerian assignees. Employers should anticipate continued scarcity of short-stay slots, longer lead times for work-permit processing and heightened scrutiny of purpose-of-stay documentation. The episode also underscores how sensitive visa issues remain in France’s electoral climate ahead of the 2027 presidential race. Mobility professionals should closely monitor parliamentary debates this autumn, when MPs are expected to examine a broader “immigration performance” bill that could embed quota mechanisms directly into the Code des étrangers.
Source: Afriquinfos
