The €750 travel allowance is proving highly popular – a little too popular for the liking of the Algerian authorities. The ceiling was raised last October to make trips abroad more enjoyable for Algerians, mainly to Tunisia, but the rush has reached such proportions that it is now raising suspicions. As a result, the authorities are moving to slow things down, reorganise the system and ensure that opportunists are not diverting the scheme for other purposes.
From the morning of Sunday, 7 December 2025, crossing the border is no longer automatic: travellers must now show their credentials in the form of an international travel authorisation. This document is required for buses transporting Algerian tourists to Tunisia. Since the measure came into force, coaches have been stuck at the border, particularly at the Algerian checkpoints of Oum Teboul and El Ayoune in the wilaya of El Tarf.
The regional transport directorate now has control over issuing the provisional international transport permits, and each bus must present one to be allowed into Tunisia. Because the decision was taken and implemented without any transition period, many buses are parked at the border posts, bus tour operators report, according to the newspaper El Khabar on Monday, 8 December.
Travellers say the measure was decided and applied on the same day, last Sunday, and that it applies to all border crossings between the two countries. This explains the congestion in all parking and waiting areas.
Sources quoted anonymously by the same newspaper say this tightening of controls is a response to the abusive use of the facilities granted to bus travellers, with tour organisers also being singled out. The success of the foreign exchange entitlement at the official rate of €750 has been so great that the system has been thrown off balance.
The surge in week-long package trips since the introduction of the new travel allowance has led to “social problems in Tunisia, as well as abuses and improper practices (…), which is what prompted the authorities of both countries, Algeria and Tunisia, to introduce measures regulating border-crossing procedures” in order to calm the situation, the same source adds.
So far, however, the authorities of the two “brother” countries have made no official comment on the matter. What is known is that this foreign exchange allowance is supposed to give travellers a sufficiently comfortable financial cushion to facilitate their trips abroad. But it is said that some citizens go to Tunisia solely to resell part of the allocated currency back in Algeria. The authorities have decided to call time on the practice.
The Bank of Algeria issued a statement last Sunday reminding the public that the foreign exchange entitlement at the official rate is strictly reserved for expenses related to travel abroad and that it is strictly forbidden to divert it for other purposes.
“Instruction No. 05-2025 on the foreign exchange entitlement for travel abroad, in particular Article 10, prohibits and sanctions any attempt to divert the use of the foreign exchange entitlement from its intended purpose, in accordance with the legislation in force,” the institution in charge of monetary policy warned.
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