Passport problem - can anybody please help?

[bengy]

Salaam

i am a british national and i am married to an algerian man. My husband returned to algeria from the UK on a laissez passer which is a document which allows someone to travel if they do not have a passport. However since arriving in algeria my husband has been trying to get his Algerian passport but he has not been successful.

It has now been over a year and he still hasnt been given his passport. Does anybody out there know who we can contact to get his passport - we have tried different options but nobody is giving a straight answer.

I would be greatful for any help and advice

kinds regards

bengy

[Al-khiyal]

Salam wa mar7aba, ya bengy, welcome to Algeria.com

You evidently are meeting a strange and frustrating problem. Without disclosing any personal information, could you perhaps explain what the alleged problems holding up what should be a routinely processed entitlement for Algerians are?

[bengy]

when he arrived at the airport he was questioned for 5 hours like a criminal! the officer interviewing him wrote on his notes that he was deported- this is NOT the case as we paid for our own tickets and we have the evidence and a letter from the Algerian Embassy in the UK to verify this also.

The problem is with the police in his local town where he lives, he has been cleared by the main people in Algiers but the guy in his local town is still refusing to give his passport- he keeps making up different stories about paper work etc.

I have been to see my husband 4 times now over the last year. You can imagine that i have not had a very positive experience of Algeria. Every time we find someone that may be able to help we are let down. As you said, it is a human right to have a passport and my husband is being denied this right without any reason - just personal (thats what i believe)

If there is anyway you can help or point us to someone that can help i would be so greatful.

[Felicity]

I will ask my husband as I know it took him ages to get his passport but that was more because the Algerian authorities are soooooooooooooooooo sloooooow. I think it must have taken him at least 6 months to get (compared to the UK taking only 4 weeks), but then I think he was born in Algiers, so they may be a bit quicker. In the smaller villages it does seem to take an age for anything official to come through.

[bengy]

thanks felicity - the problem is with his local police station? (apparently they issue passports too!) the local head of the police is giving untrue information about my husband therefore he is not able to get his passport - would your husband know of any contacts who are above this person in status, who may have authority to issue a passport without going to his local police?

[Felicity]

So I asked my husband and I found out that what I had previously thought - was incorrect.

So my husband says... that in Algeria since the passport is the property of the Algerian government, if you misuse your passport, there is some kind of penalty where they will not issue you a new one until a certain amount of time is up, which is possibly the delay.

On a seperate note, in his village, his brother, who had done nothing wrong whatsoever, (not ever travelled anywhere), took over a year to get his passport, simply because as I said before, it is sooo slow, as everything is sent via telegram and through phone calls. All the stuff is sent to the main Algiers office from all over Algeria, and then police checks occur etc, and this all causes delay, and then the ok from algiers is eventually telegrammed back to the village/town, and sometimes they don't have enough special paper etc (as in the case of my brother-in-law) to issue the passport...

My husband knew of these delays so what he did is he registered himself as living in Algiers and went to the central office there to apply, and at first he got a negative response, because they said something was wrong with him and the police and he said that they were very unhelpful at the passport office and just told him to go to the police station. So he went to the police station to ask them why they had made it negative, and they said its just cause they wanted him to present himself so they could check that he was Algerian rather than Morrocan etc. After this they gave him a positive response and it only took a month.

The other obvious thing about Algeria is, its all about who you know, and often, how much you are willing to pay. Even if he has relatives in a diff police station, it may still be helpful to try and get them to influence the decision, or, attempt to withdraw the application from there and lodge it directly at Algiers.

Also, when you said your husband was deported, do you mean he received one of those things which gives a 10 year ban? If so, these are generally given whether the person leaves voluntarily or otherwise.

[bengy]

thanks it makes sense now - also he WAS NOT deported we will see what we can do - also find it hard to comprehend that in the age of emails etc that they still use telegrams.

inshallah it will get sorted and thank you for your advice

salaam