Algeria residence permit (carte de résident)

Law No. 08-11 distinguishes non-residents, who stay up to 90 days without settling or working, from residents, who have been authorised to establish their effective, habitual and permanent residence and hold a resident card. The card is compulsory from the age of 18 unless a reciprocity agreement says otherwise; a minor must apply within eight days of turning 18.

Anyone who wants to stay beyond the period on the visa in order to live in Algeria must ask for the card at least 15 days before the visa expires. There is no residence permit for people who entered without a lawful basis for the stay.

The interior ministry lists a common core: the application form, the birth certificate, five identical photos, a fiscal stamp, a medical certificate covering general medicine and chest (tuberculosis) screening, a copy of the passport with the entry visa and a residential tenancy contract. Then, depending on the reason for the stay, add one of these: a work permit, temporary work authorisation or declaration of employment issued by the ministry in charge of labour; a certificate of enrolment at a school or university; proof of a commercial, industrial, craft or liberal activity issued by the competent services; or, if you do not intend to work, proof of means of subsistence for the stay.

Issuing the card involves a fiscal stamp whose amount is set by the finance law and the stamp code; the ministry page for the standard card does not state the figure. The card is valid for two years. For salaried workers it cannot outlast the document authorising the work, and for students it cannot outlast the course of study or training.

Students' and salaried workers' cards can be renewed on the basis of updated supporting documents. A resident who changes address permanently or for more than six months must declare it within 15 days at the police station, gendarmerie or town hall of the old and new address; failing to do so carries a fine of DZD 2,000 to 15,000. A resident who is absent from Algeria for an uninterrupted year loses resident status, and the card must be returned to the wilaya that issued it when the stay ends.

The card can be withdrawn at any time if it is established that the holder no longer meets a condition for it. The holder is then given 30 days to leave Algeria, with a possible extra 15 days on a reasoned request. It can also be withdrawn, with immediate expulsion after the formalities, from a resident whose activities are judged contrary to public morals and order or national interests. An expulsion order of the interior minister can be challenged before the administrative urgent-applications judge within five days, or 30 days for some protected groups.