Do you act as an Employer of Record in Algeria?

Not in the platform sense. Algerian law routes foreign employment through an employer registered in Algeria, and the work permit dossier is filed by that employer with the wilaya employment directorate. Where your client has no Algerian entity we set one up in their name and run the registration, filing and payroll obligations against it. Where they already have one, we operate inside it.

Which authority issues an Algerian work permit?

The Direction de l'Emploi of the wilaya with territorial jurisdiction receives and processes the file, under Loi 81-10 of 11 July 1981 on the employment of foreign workers and Décret 82-510 of 25 December 1982. Source: https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/

How long is an Algerian work permit valid?

It cannot exceed two years, per the Ministry of Labour procedures guide. Source: https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/

What are the renewal deadlines?

The renewal application must be filed at least 45 days before expiry for the work permit, and at least 8 days before expiry for the temporary work authorisation. Source: https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/

How quickly must the dossier be filed once the worker arrives?

For a worker entering on a work visa, the employer has fifteen days from that entry to submit the work permit dossier. Where the worker is a national of a country exempt from the entry visa, that window is 45 days. Source: https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/

Can the filing be handled remotely from outside Algeria?

The dossier is received and processed by the wilaya employment directorate with territorial jurisdiction over the worksite, and it is presented there. In practice that is why global platforms refer Algeria out rather than filing it themselves: Playroll's Algeria page states it does not currently sponsor visas there and points readers to local immigration advisors. Sources: https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/ and https://www.playroll.com/work-permit-visas/algeria

Does our client need an Algerian entity before we start?

Not before contacting us, but one has to exist before a work permit dossier can be opened, because the file is opened by the employer. If the client has no Algerian entity we set one up first: CNRC trade register, notarised statutes, NIF and NIS, corporate bank account and a legal registered address.

Are there conditions on which foreign workers can be recruited?

Yes. National preference applies, so the post must not be one that can be filled by an Algerian candidate, and the qualification threshold for recruiting a foreign worker is technician level. Reference: https://ufe.org/dossier-pays/algerie/travailler-en-algerie/

How do you charge partner firms?

Per engagement, agreed in advance, and not published. White-label, referral and subcontract each price differently and the scope drives the number. We do not apply a small-business price list to partner work.

What do you need from us to give a useful first answer?

Headcount, nationalities, roles and seniority, the worksite wilaya, the client's entity status in Algeria, and the target start dates. With that we come back with what is executable, what is not, and what it depends on.

Your in-country partner in Algeria for EOR, PEO and global mobility

Algeria is the country your platform ranks for and cannot service. The work permit file is opened by an employer registered in Algeria and presented to the wilaya employment directorate with jurisdiction over the worksite, which is why remote handling does not close. UpGrowth Connect is the Algiers-based execution layer: entity setup, permit filing, payroll and social security registration, delivered white-label, on referral, or as a subcontractor inside your scope.

Content verified on August 6, 2026Our methodology

ByÉquipe UpGrowth, Foreign investment and in-country operations team

Published on August 6, 2026

Partner enquiry

Send us the shape of the demand

Headcount, nationalities, roles, worksite wilaya, entity status, start date. Write to contact@upgrowth.dz

Send us the shape of the demand

The gap, stated plainly

Playroll's own Algeria work-permit page says it in one sentence: "We don't currently sponsor visas in Algeria", followed by an offer to coordinate with a network of local immigration advisors. https://www.playroll.com/work-permit-visas/algeria

That is not a product defect. Algerian law routes foreign employment through an employer registered in Algeria, and the permit dossier is received and processed by the Direction de l'Emploi of the wilaya that has territorial jurisdiction over the worksite (https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/). A platform with no Algerian entity and nobody at that counter has nothing to file with.

We are the party those referral sentences point at. This page sets out what we execute in-country, under which texts, and on which commercial terms. It is written for your operations and compliance leads, not for an end client.

What we execute in-country

Algiers-based delivery. The scope below is what our team does physically, in Algeria, under your brand or ours.

Entity setup, when your client has no Algerian employer to name on the file: CNRC trade register, notarised statutes, NIF and NIS tax identifiers, corporate bank account, and a legal registered address in Algiers.
Prior agreement (accord préalable) for the foreign headcount, filed ahead of the individual permits.
Work permit (permis de travail) dossiers, one per worker, presented to the Direction de l'Emploi of the wilaya with territorial jurisdiction over the worksite.
Temporary work authorisation (autorisation de travail temporaire) for short assignments, through the same wilaya route.
The renewal calendar, held on our side: the work permit renewal is filed at least 45 days before expiry and the temporary authorisation at least 8 days before expiry (https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/).
Payroll and social security: employer and employee registration with CNAS, payroll processing, and the monthly declaration cycle.
File assembly and counter presentation, including the back and forth when an office asks for a piece to be produced differently.

The texts we file under

Every figure in this section carries the source it came from, immediately after the statement. The statutory ones are the Algerian Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security procedures guide; the recruitment-conditions line is a secondary country reference and is marked as such. None of it is our interpretation, and we will restate it to your compliance team with the source links before any engagement.

Governing texts: Loi 81-10 of 11 July 1981 on the employment of foreign workers, and Décret 82-510 of 25 December 1982, which sets the terms for granting the work permit. https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/
Competent authority: the Direction de l'Emploi of the wilaya with territorial jurisdiction receives and processes the file. https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/
Prior agreement: the salaried employment of foreign workers is subject to a prior agreement (accord préalable) from the central services of the ministry responsible for employment, which the wilaya employment director then notifies to the employing body. It is a central decision notified locally, which is why it does not move faster by pushing harder at the counter. https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/
Work permit duration: it cannot exceed two years. https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/
Filing window: for a worker entering on a work visa, the employer has fifteen days from that entry to submit the work permit dossier. The same guide carries the exception your files will actually hit: the window is 45 days where the worker is a national of a country exempt from the entry visa. https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/
Renewal: at least 45 days before expiry for the work permit, at least 8 days before expiry for the temporary work authorisation. https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/
Recruitment conditions, from a secondary country reference rather than the ministry guide: national preference applies, so the post must not be one that can be filled by an Algerian candidate, and the qualification threshold for recruiting a foreign worker is technician level. https://ufe.org/dossier-pays/algerie/travailler-en-algerie/

Why the wilaya is the whole problem

The texts are national. The counter is not. The dossier is received and processed by the wilaya employment directorate with territorial jurisdiction over the worksite (https://www.mtess.gov.dz/fr/guide-de-procedures/), so a mandate with sites in two wilayas is two relationships, two queues, and two sets of local practice about how a file should be presented and what counts as sufficient proof.

That is the part which does not survive being run from a laptop in London or Cape Town. Not because the law is unclear, but because acceptance happens in a room, in person, with someone who has stood in it before and knows what that particular office expects to see.

It is also why we will not quote you an approval date. We can give you the statutory windows, the filing sequence, and an honest read on where a file typically stalls. The decision belongs to the administration.

Three ways to work with us

Three commercial shapes, one delivery team. Pick the one that fits how you already sell.

In all three models the employer named on the Algerian filing is the registered Algerian entity that will employ the worker, because that is what the procedure requires. The commercial arrangement between our two firms sits above that and does not change the filing.

Referral terms, white-label rate cards and subcontract day rates are agreed per partner and are not published. We do not put a small-business price list in front of a partner firm.

Model	Client-facing brand	Who holds the client contract	Best when
White-label	Yours	You	You own the account and want Algeria to look like part of your own platform
Referral	Ours	Us	Algeria is out of scope for you and you would rather the client be served than lost
Subcontract	Yours	You	Algeria is one workstream inside a larger mandate you are already delivering

How a file runs

Scoping call: headcount, roles, nationalities, worksite wilaya, whether the client already has an Algerian entity, and the target start dates.
Written scope back to you: what is executable, what is not, and what it depends on. We would rather tell you something is hard in Algeria than let you discover it with your client listening.
Entity and employer registration, if the client has no Algerian employer to name on the file.
Prior agreement for the foreign headcount.
Work permit dossier per worker at the competent wilaya directorate, inside the filing window that follows the worker's entry: fifteen days on a work visa, 45 days for a nationality exempt from the entry visa.
Payroll and CNAS setup, then the renewal calendar tracked against the 45-day and 8-day deadlines.
Status reporting in the format your account team already uses, on the cadence you set.

What we do not claim

You are buying reliability, so here is where the line sits.

We are not an Employer of Record in the sense your platform means it. Algerian employment runs through a locally registered employer, so there is no entity-free hiring layer for us to sell you.
We do not commit to a permit approval date. We commit to the filing, to the completeness of the file, and to the deadline calendar.
We do not publish partner pricing on a web page.
Where a sector carries a specific authorisation requirement or an ownership constraint, we say so during scoping rather than after signature.

How to start a conversation

Send the shape of the demand rather than a general enquiry. To answer usefully we need: number of workers, nationalities, roles and seniority, the wilaya of the worksite, whether the client already has an Algerian entity, the target start date, and which engagement model you have in mind.

Write to contact@upgrowth.dz with "partner" in the subject line. You get back a written read on what is executable, what is not, and what it depends on. If the honest answer is that a piece of your scope is not workable in Algeria, that is what you will be told, in the first reply rather than the third month.

Worth knowing

Talk to the team that files in Algeria

2 years is the maximum validity of an Algerian work permit, and the renewal has to be filed 45 days before it lapses. Holding that calendar across a cohort, across wilayas, is the part that quietly goes wrong.