Algeria info
 

Hi folks
For your info.
We are waiting for algerian visas from December with no answer.
Group from Poland with 2 cars.

Bartosz

Which agency have you contacted ?

RR.

Tenezrouft

Bartosz

Hello,

at the moment, also the agencies situated in the south (also InSalah) don't get the stamps from the authorities for the invitation,a friend of mine in Tam told. Last week on the homepage of the algerian consulate in Germany all agencies in the southern Wilayas (except Adrar) were deleted, now the whole page is deleted - try an agency, hotel or "friend" more north.

Ferdi

Bad news....

RR.

Hi,

Doesn't add much, but I've been waiting for a visa since early March, with no anwser as well. We were organising a scientific expedition, thus contacts were official (Ministery of Culture, University, etc). No chance at all...

Good luck,
jc

Answer from embassy in Poland was like that:
If we travel by car we must wait for permit from ministry in Alger, if we travel by plane we can get visas faster.
So, we travel by car and we are waiting so long.
Maybe we can get visas for autum. It would be great.

Bartosz

Hi,
>at the moment, also the agencies situated in the south (also InSalah) don't get the stamps from the authorities for the invitation

according my information the situation is different.
About 2 weeks ago a new procedure for obtaining tourist visa had been imposed. But this procedure is refused by the tourist business (may be not in Adrar).
So in fact, actually it may be difficult to obtain a tourist visa.

A couple of tourist who returned from Algeria end of February reported to me that their trip passed as usual. Tassili du Hoggar, Teffedest, Tam-Djanet crossing still banned for tourism. And lots of military activity in the south to secure the southern border.

Regarding visa: In Europe it takes 1 to 2 weeks. And in Switzerland it was impossible to obtain a double entry visa for Algeria.

Hoi Yves,

according to my "private" information, the situation changed 2-3 weeks ago. E.g. in Tam it was impossible (10 days ago) to get the stamp. Maybe in Tim or Adrar. In D the visa takes at least 3 weeks (for the south and west germans), if you will get one, 2x entry since 7 years nearly impossible here.

I changed my plans - 3 weeks DZ to 2 weeks TN, may be DZ in autumn.

Greetings
Ferdi

Hi Yves,

Have you infos about this "new procedure"?

RR.

stamp
 

Hi all,

On our invitation issued by Tanezrouft there are no stamps from authotities...

Regards

Tomek

Tomek,
since your invitation had been issued, back in 2010, the procedure changed. At least until February 2011 no stamp was needed for a successful visa application.
But now it is a mess as most agencies refuse the new procedure.

Almost a year
 

Hm... I'm waiting for an answer for my visa application since NOVEMBER 2010.

I can accept a 'no' but complete ignorance from the authorities (after collecting the money) is just outrageous.
Not sure I'll try that visiting that country for a couple of years... before major changes are made in this industry.


g.

one year club;)
 

Hi Gagarin,
Welcome to the club.:welcome:

To sum up:
Westeners wait for Algeiran visa 2-3 weeks,
East Europeans are beeing invited to join the club.

I have a question: why?

Regards,
Tomek

P.S. It is sad that our "civilized" world imposed restrictions that do not allow one to wander freely.

Interesting that it is Hungary and Poland now. If it were one country, then some diplomatic issue between Algeria and that country would be the most likely source. But two countries? The plot thickens....

Who knows...
 

No diplomatic things involved I guess. Simply the damned security people who rule the whole country basically and decide on everything. The MOFA is just a bunch of puppets.

I have some ideas why they act like this - we left a significant trace in the Algerian bureaucracy back in Jan 2010 (when we were there) and then tried again in March... but this doesn't mean they should behave like this (not even answering to visa applications).

Ah, a group of Polish were involved too, so that might be the problem for you guys... sorry... :)


g.

trace
 

Gagarin: What do you mean by saying:

?

Regards,
T.

Bureaucracy
 

Hi,

What I mean - we organized a rally over there and till the last minute all the authorities (7 ministries were involved) gave us green light. We did the scouting in Jan 2010 being escorted all the way by Gendarmerie and sometimes Army. (We didn't ask for this, but we had no choice.) Sometimes 15 vehicles and some trucks, 60 people e.g. from In Salah to Amguid and beyond). For 4 of us ;) Big fuss about the whole thing.

Then the last minute when we were waiting for the visa - it just never arrived. Got a fax a week after the event should have been officially started, that they don't think it's a good idea. That's it.
That's the story really in a nutshell.
2 years of work and tens of thousands of Euros down the drain.
Lots of Hungarians and Polish were involved... hence my guess guys with these passports have problems with those idiots.

Another rally (way more professional and bigger scale) also get screwed by those bastards this year.

Unless they do some serious changes over there I'm not going to even think about that region...


g.

Algerian visas
 

Seems to be a person-specific issue, we received our visas at the Budapest embassy in two weeks as promised, no hassles. Other members of our party in Prague/Brussels had same experience.

Hopefully will be able to report on situation in the Djanet / Tassili N'Ajjer area in three weeks.

Algerian visa and others topics
 

About visa applications, I'm sure that it depends where (country) you're from (ie. it depends from your country's Algerian general consulate).
For exemple, in France you don't need to give the "original" form from the agency you've chosen, a copy is OK.

Other topic: I've received a reply fromTanezrouft Voyages telling me that, to go to Beni Abbes and Timmimoun, I need to be escorted with "gendarmes".
I'm very surprised about that, may be it's only if I left the tarmac betwen these two towns.

What is you opinion?

RR.

I believe the 'original invite' requirement in the UK (as well as a longer issuing time and much higher price) was a response to the Brits turning the screws on Algerian visa apps. In Europe the old fax method is still used.

Rally organisers should have got the message by now: your events are not welcome/treated suspiciously in Algeria, I suspect because the army (who calls the shots) doesn't want the bother. A few years ago Hubert Auriol (ex Dakar racer and TSO chief) tried to organise a mini rally/raid in Alg. You'd think he'd have some clout/connections, but same thing: last minute the Algies dumped on him.

The good news seems to be that that confrontation between agencies and the tourism ministry has come to nothing so far. If tourist invites were handed over to be issued by the ministry, I suspect the space-time continuum would have collapsed.

As for Beni Abbes area, I believe that is a special case for the wilaya or Adrar, possibly as a result of a skirmish there two years back (AQIM types coming up from the south), or similar activity. My group got caught up with the green & whites in February coming down along the road from Oran ('pour votre securite'), at times crawling along at 40kph or waiting hours for the next patrol to turn up and take over. If I was to try and get to Timimoun, I would come down the TSH and turn after El Golea. Shame, as that corner is a nice area.

Anywhere else in Alg, it's just agency escorts required, AFAIK.

Ch

So, if I understand well, If I come from El Golea (coming from In Salah, after a Immidir/Ahnet loop), I can go to Timmimoun only with our guide?
And I want to continue till Beni Abbes (by road) ? ... I've never get there.
RR.

You'll have to ask Tanezrouft, roro, I am just speculating as usual.
And actually Beni Abbes is in Bechar wilaya according to this map so maybe the Moroccan border is the issue with the gendarmerie (who are a national guard and not regional?, so wilaya borders may be irrelevant, anyway).

Ch

Thanks Chris,
I've asked to Tanezrouft and Fouad told me that stuff about gendarmerie for Timm and B.Abbes but I prefered have other advices...
RR.

Got our Algerian visas
 

Hi All,

Just in case this is some help to you we have gotten our Algerian visas but we will only be travelling in the centre and North of Algeria.

We applied on the 12th September in Switzerland (now we are actually on the road) and we both received our tourist visas by the 29th Sept, just 2 days before leaving on our trip.

So Algeria HERE WE COME!!! bier
We applied as Swiss and Norwegian because the Algerian consulate and Embassy in Switzerland requires you to prove you are living working in the country before you can apply. Essentially following all the process duely and using Tanzerouft we were able to get our tourist visas for 30 day single entry. We even never actually went in person the the consulate or embassy just sent the cash in the registered mail post with our passports and applications and all the supporting docs, photocopy of the passport. Of course it was a little work to coordinate this with Tanzerouft but it all worked out well.


We will enter from Taleb Labri border by motorcycle from Tunisia and leave from Ghazaouet by ferry to Spain. We are riding two-up (Riding2up) and we are using Tanzerouft as guides for the whole trip taking 9 days to cross Algeria.

Tanzerouft faxed a letter to the consulat/embassy for us and it was relatively quick given other reports. So I don't know what the fuss is all about, were we just lucky. I don't know. But the true test will be when we arrive at the border with our beast of a bike and the two of us...

Anyway it's back to uploading photos...

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