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Your first contract with a foreign client: which payment terms to write in

Valid as of 22 October 20264 min read

Guide 2 · valid as of 22 October 2026 · getsahla.com

Write in an international (SWIFT) transfer in euros or dollars to your foreign currency account in Algeria, with 30-day payment terms. Payoneer can go in as a backup. Never offer payment in crypto or to an account abroad.

Take Mehdi, a web developer in Annaba. He signs his first contract with a Dutch start-up: €3,000 for a website delivered in two stages. His contract says two invoices of €1,500, each payable within 30 days by SWIFT transfer to his foreign currency account at BDL, with Payoneer only if the transfer fails.

Before you sign

  • Your status and account: an auto-entrepreneur card (guide 5) and a professional foreign currency account (guide 6).
  • The declaration: declare the project to your bank before the first invoice, with the price and the go-live date (guide 7). The contract helps you fill it in.
  • The legal deadline: the client must pay within 120 days of delivery, and the money comes home on the day they pay (guide 9).

Payment clauses to include

ClauseWhat we suggestWhy
CurrencyEuros or dollars, matching your foreign currency accountNo conversion, no extra fees
Payment methodInternational (SWIFT) transfer to your foreign currency account in Algeria100% credited in foreign currency (guide 8)
Bank detailsExact account holder name, bank name and address, IBAN (DZ…) and SWIFT codeThe client needs them for the transfer
Payment terms30 days after each delivery, 60 at mostStay well inside the 120-day limit
StagesOne invoice per delivery on long projectsEach stage starts its own clock
Bank charges“Shared” (SHA) or paid by the client (OUR)So you don’t absorb every fee
BackupPayoneer, withdrawn the same day to your foreign currency account (guide 11)In case the client can’t send a SWIFT transfer

The contract can be in French or English. Keep a signed copy with your bank declaration.

The methods

Legal

Direct transfer to your foreign currency account

This is the standard route: the client pays your Algerian bank, so the payment date is the day it arrives. There’s no question about when the money was “brought home” (Regulation 07-01, art. 57 and 61).

Steps

  1. Ask your branch for your full details for an international transfer in foreign currency: IBAN, the bank’s SWIFT code, address.
  2. Put them in the contract and on every invoice, with your auto-entrepreneur number and NIF.
  3. Declare the project to the bank before the first invoice (guide 7).
  4. With each payment, check your statement shows the money in foreign currency.

If you work through a platform (Upwork, Fiverr, Deel), the platform sets the payment method: guide 3 covers the legal route on each.

Legal

Payoneer or PayPal as a backup

Some clients can’t send a SWIFT transfer, or must use a set payment service. Payoneer and PayPal are fine then, as long as you withdraw to your foreign currency account the same day (guides 11 and 14). Nobody has settled when such a payment counts as “made” (guide 9), so list Payoneer as a backup, not as the main method.

Illegal

Payment in crypto or to an account abroad

Some clients, especially in crypto, offer to pay in USDT or USDC. For a resident, that’s banned: two months to a year in prison and a fine of DZD 200,000 to 1,000,000, or either one (Law 25-10; guide 16). Asking to be paid into a relative’s account abroad or into a foreign company means keeping your earnings abroad, an exchange-control offence (Regulation 07-01, art. 8; guides 17 and 21).

Key points

  • Contract: euros or dollars, SWIFT transfer to your foreign currency account, 30 days.
  • Payoneer only as a backup, withdrawn the same day.
  • Never crypto, never an account abroad.

Sources