Originally Posted by
ajamieson
As stated by others, landing at ALG from overseas requires immigration clearance and so you will need a transfer visa.
I would also dispute the claim that an Algeria tourist visa for UK passport-holders takes "a couple of weeks"; that really depends on your itinerary, your work/personal background and what other visas you hold. My "two weeks" (as advised by the Consulate in London) in October turned into 9 weeks and I had to cancel and reschedule the entire trip. Added to that, a ticket originating in Algeria for the U.S. on a non-Algerian passport in the current climate will get you a big fat SSSS at your U.S. point of arrival. It's bad enough from Turkey and Egypt these days.
The fare would have to be very low to make a TP run to the U.S. out of Algeria worthwhile.
Sorry to hear that. Mine actually took 1 week but I was too busy to go and pick it up till the following Wednesday... Admittedly my itinerary was straightforward: into ALG from BCN, hop to CZL on AH for 3 nights then CZL-ALG-LGW LHR-JFK-SFO, not sure about my background but I guess it didn't give too much cause for concern
On arrival at JFK I was met by a SWAT team and roughly handcuffed and thrown in a van while they chanted "SSSS USA !!!, SSSS USA!!!"... oh no, sorry that was a dream, I actually flew through the GE machines & Customs and was at the Q3 bus stop 10 minutes later.
So for me, exALG worked out well, though next time I will press for a mutliple-entry visa to avoid too much stress on the inbound !!!