"I would not take it personally. I suspect it's all down to the diplomatic relationship a country has with Algeria - how easily Algerians can visit your country, politics, trade deals - and quite possibly the individual ambassador."

Well, the emabassy or the ambassador himself cannot really do anything to speed up things or even to find out what's going on. They say their hands are tied as after they send your 'dossier' to the Ministry of F.A. those guy send it over to the Ministry of I.A. (their bureaucrats really hold the threads in their hands). Until they get a feedback a yes or a no they don't know more then we do.

We are the ones who applied for visas on December 8.... what is it today... Jan 20? Still no answer. Not even a bloody rejection. Not a word saying "wait a little bit more guys, we're working on it".

We met the ambassador and some other diplomats in Budapest last week to ask for their opinion and hints for speeding up things or at least to get an answer for the massive delay as we're not sure it's a common practice to make people wait 7 weeks without even saying a word.

I'm impressed reading about 1-2 weeks delivery time in other parts of Europe. Since the decision is made in Algiers I see no reason for differentiation.
Especially that EU laws regulate the immigration in Belgium, Poland, Hungary and elsewhere so I see no reason to "punish" this country and favour another.

One thing is sure - if you fly in, meet a guide and participate in a local trip you have no problems and get your visa without a hitch. If you want to drive your own car there - hard times.
This is really a joke.
I think we rather turn our heads to Libya as compared to Algeria it's a travelers' paradise.

g.