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The 120-day rule: when your client must pay, and when the money must come home

Valid as of 22 October 20265 min read

Guide 9 · valid as of 22 October 2026 · getsahla.com

Since July 2026, a foreign client has at most 120 days after you deliver a service to pay you, and the money must reach Algeria on the day they pay. A late payment gets converted to dinars. The 120 days don’t give you time to leave money sitting on Payoneer.

Take Yasmine, a developer in Oran. She delivers a website to a German client on 1 September 2026. The client has until 30 December 2026 to pay the invoice. They pay on 15 October, so that same day the euros must land in Yasmine’s foreign currency account in Algeria.

What the rule says

Bank of Algeria Regulation 26-02, published in the Official Journal on 12 August 2026, rewrote article 61 of Regulation 07-01. It sets three rules:

  • 120 days at most between the date the service is delivered and the date its price comes home.
  • 180 days at most if you give your client longer to pay. The longer term must be written into the contract, and the sale must be covered in advance by export credit insurance from the national body.
  • Same day: in every case, the money must come home on the day the client pays.

If the money arrives late, your bank pays it out in dinars instead of crediting your foreign currency account (Regulation 07-01, art. 67; Instruction 06-2021, art. 4; guide 8).

Watch out for old posts. Before July 2026, the deadline was 360 days (Regulation 16-04 of 2016). Posts that still say 360 days are out of date.

Working out your deadline

Service delivered onLatest payment date (120 days)If the client pays on…Money must reach Algeria on…
1 September 202630 December 202615 October 202615 October 2026
15 October 202612 February 202720 October 202620 October 2026
1 November 20261 March 20272 March 2027Too late: converted to dinars

The deadline calculator does the maths with your own dates.

The open question: when does a Payoneer, PayPal or Grey payment count as “made”?

If your client wires money straight to your foreign currency account in Algeria, there’s no question: the payment date is the day it arrives.

If they pay through a foreign go-between, there are two readings:

  1. Strict reading: the client paid on the day the money reached your Payoneer, PayPal or Grey account, so it must come home that day.
  2. Relaxed reading: the payment only counts once it reaches an Algerian bank, and the go-between is just a pipe.

As of 22 October 2026, no text and no public answer from the Bank of Algeria settles this. We’ve put the question to a lawyer. Until then, the only safe way to follow the rule is to withdraw to your foreign currency account on the day the money lands with the go-between. PayPal holds new sellers’ funds for 30 days (guide 14): keep proof of the hold.

The methods

Legal

Invoice, get paid and bring the money home on time

Set out in article 61 of Regulation 07-01, as rewritten by Regulation 26-02.

Steps

  1. Declare the project to your bank before the first invoice (guide 7).
  2. Write down the date each service ends: that’s when the 120 days start. For a long project, invoice in stages, each with its own delivery date.
  3. Put a 30- or 60-day payment term in the contract or on the invoice, well inside 120 days.
  4. If the client pays into your foreign currency account in Algeria, check your statement shows the money in foreign currency.
  5. If they pay through Payoneer, PayPal or Grey, withdraw to your foreign currency account the same day and keep the confirmation.
  6. If the client is slow, chase them before day 90. After 120 days, their payment will reach you in dinars.
Legal

Give up to 180 days with export credit insurance

Set out in the same article. It’s only worth it for large contracts with a client who insists on a long term: you need export credit insurance taken out before the sale, and the term written into the contract. Talk to your bank before you sign.

Illegal

Leaving money on Payoneer “because I have 120 days”

This is the most common mistake. The 120 days give your client time to pay. They don’t give you time to bring the money home: once the client has paid, the money must come back that day. A balance left in a foreign app counts as holding assets abroad, which article 8 of Regulation 07-01 bans, and failing to bring your earnings home is an exchange-control offence (Ordinance 96-22, art. 1; guide 17).

Key points

  • At most 120 days between delivery and payment, or 180 with export credit insurance written into the contract.
  • The money comes home on the day the client pays, not 120 days later.
  • Late payment arrives in dinars, and the conversion is final.

Sources