About 250 Algerians living clandestinely in France, who wish to return to their country by a voluntary return procedure, are "prevented from returning home by Algeria", citing health reasons, French authorities told AFP on Tuesday. immigration.
These 252 Algerian nationals, still waiting, have approached the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii) in recent weeks to benefit from this "voluntary return", which allows undocumented migrants to return. in their country of origin, by committing not to return to France, with a nest egg (650 euros per person for Algerians), a plane ticket reserved by France and possibly financial assistance for reintegration into the Departure country.
"It is the only country with which we have this problem"
“The problem is that these Algerians, who want to return and request voluntary return, are prevented from returning home by Algeria, which refuses to take them back from us.
It is the only country with which we have this problem, ”observes Didier Leschi, the boss of Ofii.
Some of these 252 Algerians, who are on average 36 years old, are trying to go through this procedure to return at all costs to Algeria and see their families again, after more than a year of closure of Algerian borders due to the pandemic, confides moreover Didier Leschi.
He wants proof that the majority of them do not seek financial assistance for reintegration, which can amount to several thousand euros.
This blockage of the Algerian authorities, "with whom we cannot manage to have an interlocutor for these voluntary returns", plunges the Algerian nationals in France "in the incomprehension, the aggressiveness;
because we are the ones who take the tickets, so they think that we are trying to block them, ”continues the Director General of Ofii.
Since the start of the year, 2,455 people, primarily Georgians, Albanians and Chinese, have returned to their countries of origin through a voluntary return procedure.
