The outsourced visa-processing partner Capago has warned that the France-Visas website—the compulsory first step for every Schengen or long-stay visa for France—will be offline twice next week for “major technical maintenance.” The shutdowns are scheduled for Wednesday 3 December from 15:30-19:30 (Algiers time) and Tuesday 9 December from 06:00-09:00. During each four-hour window, applicants will be unable to create files, pay fees, book appointments or track cases.
Although four hours may sound minor, Capago says the ripple effect could be severe. Early December is peak season for Algerian tourists, international students returning for the January term and corporate travellers planning Q1 assignments. Every applicant must generate a France-Visas confirmation before giving biometrics at Capago’s Algiers, Oran or Annaba centres; if that step is blocked, downstream appointments are automatically delayed.
![France-Visas Portal to Undergo Two Short Shutdowns Next Week, Raising Fears of Holiday Processing Backlog]()
French employers that rotate staff through Algeria are being advised to bring forward any urgent travel or assignment plans. Immigration advisers also recommend downloading partially completed files before the outage and asking frequent travellers to renew multi-entry visas early. Capago notes that biometric slots often fill weeks in advance and that no walk-in option exists.
The incident highlights a broader vulnerability in France’s visa supply chain. Since digitisation, even short outages can cascade into missed flights, lost tuition deposits and suspended contracts. Consular officials tell Global Mobility News that contingency planning now includes printing emergency travel documents for critical workers if the France-Visas portal suffers an unplanned crash. Companies are urged to brief executives on the potential for slower turnaround times in the second half of December and to factor extra lead time into January business-travel budgets.
Although four hours may sound minor, Capago says the ripple effect could be severe. Early December is peak season for Algerian tourists, international students returning for the January term and corporate travellers planning Q1 assignments. Every applicant must generate a France-Visas confirmation before giving biometrics at Capago’s Algiers, Oran or Annaba centres; if that step is blocked, downstream appointments are automatically delayed.
French employers that rotate staff through Algeria are being advised to bring forward any urgent travel or assignment plans. Immigration advisers also recommend downloading partially completed files before the outage and asking frequent travellers to renew multi-entry visas early. Capago notes that biometric slots often fill weeks in advance and that no walk-in option exists.
The incident highlights a broader vulnerability in France’s visa supply chain. Since digitisation, even short outages can cascade into missed flights, lost tuition deposits and suspended contracts. Consular officials tell Global Mobility News that contingency planning now includes printing emergency travel documents for critical workers if the France-Visas portal suffers an unplanned crash. Companies are urged to brief executives on the potential for slower turnaround times in the second half of December and to factor extra lead time into January business-travel budgets.
