Algeria to tighten entry, residency controls for foreigners

15/04/2008

Algerian MPs are discussing a draft bill which would update 40-year-old laws regulating foreigners. Proponents say the measure would facilitate foreigners' legal entry and circulation while also helping to combat trafficking and terrorism, but questions are being raised about detention facility plans included in the proposed legislation.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers – 15/04/08

[Getty Images] Illegal immigrants leaving Mali for the Algerian border. Algeria's parliament is considering a new law regulating the entry, residence and travel of foreigners.

A government plan imposing new conditions on all foreigners entering, residing and travelling in Algeria was presented to legislators on Wednesday (April 9th). Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, who introduced the draft bill to a session of the National Popular Assembly (APN), said the measure would help security officers check identification and combat terrorism and criminal activity more effectively.

The law governing foreigners has been in effect for 41 years; proponents of the bill argue that Algeria's security situation, along with developments in international law, have made it obsolete. "Today, Algeria must deal with organised crime in the economic sector, drug trafficking and arms smuggling in relation to terrorism," said the minister, explaining that on the international level, particularly in the European Union, legislation has been adapted to tighten immigration controls.

The new law would facilitate foreigners' legal entry and circulation while also cracking down on illegal immigration, smuggling and security violations. It sets up incremental penalties against smuggling networks, organisations transporting illegal immigrants and companies employing foreigners on the black market.

Foreigners who wish to fix their permanent residence in Algeria will be issued residence permits valid for two years. Those on placements or having a work contract may, depending on their situation, obtain residence permits for less than two years. However, the law provides for the possible issuance of a ten-year residence permit for foreign nationals who have settled in Algeria for a continuous and legal stay of seven years or more.

Beyond this, the law will make biometric passports obligatory for diplomatic representation, with fingerprints and photographs being taken from foreigners at border posts or when police checks are carried out within the country. Travel insurance and stamp duty for the permit are also obligatory.

However, a plan to set up holding centres for illegal immigrants awaiting repatriation is drawing criticism from parliamentarians. Some deputies asked for this provision to be completely cancelled, denouncing the measure as incompatible with freedom and saying it sacrifices humanity to benefit security.

Responding to the MPs' outcry, Zerhouni said, "This does not mean that Algeria will forget the position it has taken on solidarity with the public and its human rights principles [or] that it will close in on itself."

One researcher who has carried out considerable work on the subject of migration finds the parliamentarians' concerns to be valid. Saïb Musette said that "the most questionable point" of the draft bill is "the creation of holding centres and the possibility given to walis to expel people, which is not in accordance with the conventions ratified by Algeria as part of its protection of migrants’ rights."

"I would like to have been able to see the text and compare it with the Moroccan or Tunisian measures," Musette added.

Despite press coverage of the debate in the National Popular Assembly, there has been little popular reaction in Algeria.

Business manager Salaheddine Badaoui said he was totally unaware of the draft law. "I’ll go and find out straight away," he told Magharebia.