With your auto-entrepreneur card, you can open a trader’s account in dinars and in foreign currency without registering with the trade register. Three documents are enough, and your export earnings go into the account in full, in foreign currency.
Methods in this guide
- LegalOpen a trader’s account in dinars and in foreign currency
- Grey areaMove the balance to your personal foreign currency account
What the rules say
- Your right to an account. Banque d’Algérie Instruction 06-2021Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant lets “any resident individual or company with an economic activity” open a professional foreign currency account (art. 2).
- A lighter file. Banque d’Algérie Circular 2024/01Circulaire 2024/01 du 30 janvier 2024 de la Banque d'Algérie (non publiée ; d'après Algérie Eco) of 30 January 2024, announced by ANAE on 31 March 2024, opened trader’s accounts to auto-entrepreneurs who aren’t on the trade register. ANAE lists three documents: your auto-entrepreneur card, ID and proof of address.
- The full 100%. Export earnings brought home on time go into your foreign currency account in full (Instr. 06-2021, art. 4Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant, p. 1; guide 8).
In practice, BDL already offers auto-entrepreneurs a “trader’s account in national and foreign currency”, with an international Visa card on the foreign currency side. Other banks have their own offers, so ask at the branch.
Your options
Open a trader’s account in dinars and in foreign currency
Instruction 06-2021Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant (arts. 2 and 4) and Circular 2024/01Circulaire 2024/01 du 30 janvier 2024 de la Banque d'Algérie (non publiée ; d'après Algérie Eco) set out this route.
- Cost: account and card fees, which vary by bank.
- Timing: it depends on the branch, so open it before your first foreign client.
Step by step
- Register with ANAE and download your card (guide 5).
- Pick a bank that offers trader’s foreign currency accounts to auto-entrepreneurs. Compare the fees and the payment card that comes with it.
- Hand in the three documents: auto-entrepreneur card, ID and proof of address. If the branch asks for a trade register extract, point them to Banque d’Algérie Circular 2024/01Circulaire 2024/01 du 30 janvier 2024 de la Banque d'Algérie (non publiée ; d'après Algérie Eco).
- Ask for an account in dinars and a foreign currency account (one per currency, euro or dollar, depending on your clients).
- Before the first payment, declare your project to the same bank (guide 7).
Move the balance to your personal foreign currency account
Lots of freelance groups do this, but no rule we’ve read allows it. The trader’s account is meant first for the needs of your business (Reg. 07-01, art. 57Règlement 21-01 du 28 mars 2021 modifiant le règlement 07-01 (articles 57 et 67), p. 2). This isn’t an official route, and the risk is yours: your bank can refuse the transfer or ask you to justify it.
Before you make a transfer like this, ask your branch in writing what it accepts.
Key points
- Auto-entrepreneur card, ID, proof of address: you don’t need a trade register extract.
- Ask for an account in dinars and an account in foreign currency.
- No rule covers moving money from the trader’s account to your personal one, so ask your bank.
Sources
- Instruction 06-2021 of 29 June 2021, Banque d’Algérie: art. 2, right to an account, and art. 4, 100% of earnings, p. 1, original text read on 18 October 2026.
- Circular 2024/01 of 30 January 2024, Banque d’Algérie (not published), as reported by Algérie Eco, 1 April 2024, read on 18 October 2026.
- Regulation 21-01 of 28 March 2021, Banque d’Algérie: art. 2, new article 57 of Regulation 07-01, p. 2, original text read on 18 October 2026.
- BDL’s auto-entrepreneur offer, bank web page read on 18 October 2026.