France has formally put on hold a bilateral agreement that allowed diplomatic and service passports holders from Algeria to enter French territory without a visa.
The French government published the information in an official bulletin on August 19, thereby suspending a 12-year-old diplomatic privilege between the two countries.
This development indicates a new phase of strained and hardened relations between Paris and Algiers. France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had previously announced plans to expel Algerian diplomats without valid visas in response to Algiers expelling French civil servants from its territory.
The 2013 agreement, signed in Algiers and enacted by decree in 2014, was originally intended to facilitate high-level exchanges and cooperation between the two governments.
However, the political climate has shifted dramatically. On May 11, Algeria unilaterally ceased applying the agreement. France responded five days later by suspending the visa exemption on its side, citing the principle of reciprocity. The formal notification and legal finalization of the suspension came into effect on August 7.
The French government’s move follows a directive from President Emmanuel Macron, who earlier this month urged Prime Minister François Bayrou to adopt a firmer stance toward Algeria. In a letter, Macron called for “more firmness and determination” in response to Algeria’s repeated diplomatic obstructions and refusal to cooperate on migration and security matters.
Since Paris recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory in July 2024, Algiers took a series of hostile acts. It recalled its ambassador to Paris, declined to repatriate its nationals involved in law violation in France, took economic retaliatory measures, engaged in anti-French rhetoric in its media and sacked dozens of French diplomats.
Paris complains in particular of Algeria’s refusal to readmit its nationals subject to deportation orders under France’s “OQTF” regime, the detention of Franco-Algerian intellectuals, and the country’s growing hostility toward French interests.
Macron’s letter also instructed Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to notify Algeria of the suspension and tasked Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau with coordinating with Schengen partners to prevent Algerian diplomats from circumventing the restrictions via third countries.
With the suspension now official, the Franco-Algerian relationship enters a new chapter, defined less by cooperation and more by confrontation. The visa exemption had symbolized a privileged channel of dialogue between elites. Its removal sends a clear message: France is no longer willing to accommodate Algeria’s unilateralism and diplomatic brinkmanship.
Meanwhile, the Algerian foreign ministry issued a statement stating that it was Paris that had pushed for an agreement on visa exemptions and that Algiers would gladly take “the opportunity to announce its withdrawal from this agreement, simply and clearly.”
“Since the outbreak of this crisis, which France caused, it has chosen to approach it with the logic of force and escalation. It has resorted to threats, ultimatums and diktats, ignoring the fact that Algeria does not submit to any form of pressure, coercion or blackmail, regardless of its source or nature,” the ministry said.
