Guide 21 · valid as of 22 October 2026 · getsahla.com
If you live and work in Algeria, owning a US LLC, a UK Ltd or an Estonian OÜ to collect client payments is illegal. It needs an authorisation freelancers can’t get, and the foreign exchange offence carries two to seven years in prison.
It all comes down to one question: where is the centre of your working life? Here are the three cases, and why LLC sellers who promise a “legal” setup are wrong.
The question that decides everything: are you a resident?
The monetary and banking law defines a resident as someone whose “main centre of economic activity” is in Algeria (Law 23-09, art. 143Loi 23-09 du 21 juin 2023 portant loi monétaire et bancaire (copie Banque d'Algérie), p. 36). Your nationality doesn’t decide it, and neither does the address you give an app. What counts is where you live and do most of your work.
What the rules say
Three rules apply at once:
- No assets abroad. “Residents are forbidden from building up monetary, financial or property assets abroad from their activities in Algeria” (Regulation 07-01, art. 8Règlement 07-01 du 3 février 2007 relatif aux règles applicables aux transactions courantes avec l'étranger et aux comptes devises (version d'origine), p. 2). Shares in a company and that company’s bank account are assets abroad.
- Prior authorisation. A resident can only move capital abroad to fund an activity that complements their production in Algeria, and only with the authorisation of the Conseil monétaire et bancaire, the central bank’s policy board (Law 23-09, art. 144Loi 23-09 du 21 juin 2023 portant loi monétaire et bancaire (copie Banque d'Algérie), p. 36). Regulation 14-04Règlement 14-04 du 29 septembre 2014 fixant les conditions de transfert de capitaux à l'étranger au titre de l'investissement à l'étranger par les opérateurs économiques de droit algérien, still in force (Law 23-09, art. 166Loi 23-09 du 21 juin 2023 portant loi monétaire et bancaire (copie Banque d'Algérie), p. 41), sets the conditions: regular export earnings, more than 10% of the voting shares, your own funds, three years of audited accounts, and a transfer capped at your average repatriated earnings over three years (Regulation 14-04, art. 6Règlement 14-04 du 29 septembre 2014 fixant les conditions de transfert de capitaux à l'étranger au titre de l'investissement à l'étranger par les opérateurs économiques de droit algérien, p. 2, art. 7 and art. 9). It’s built for exporting companies, not freelancers.
- Money home the day you’re paid. Your earnings from exporting services must reach Algeria on the day the client pays (Regulation 26-02, art. 2Règlement 26-02 du 23 juillet 2026 modifiant l'article 61 du règlement 07-01 (JO n° 58 du 12 août 2026), p. 28). If the client pays your LLC, the money stays abroad.
Breaking these rules is a foreign exchange offence. Ordinance 96-22 lists “failure to repatriate capital” and “lack of the required authorisations” among the offences, and says that “good faith is no excuse” (Ordinance 96-22, art. 1Ordonnance 03-01 modifiant l'ordonnance 96-22 (JO n° 12 de 2003), p. 14, as rewritten by Ordinance 03-01Ordonnance 03-01 modifiant l'ordonnance 96-22 (JO n° 12 de 2003)). The penalty is two to seven years in prison, confiscation, and a fine of at least twice the amount involved (Ordinance 10-03, art. 1 bisOrdonnance 10-03 modifiant l'ordonnance 96-22 (JO n° 50 de 2010)).
The three cases
You live and work in Algeria
An LLC, Ltd or OÜ without the Conseil’s authorisation breaks article 8 of Regulation 07-01Règlement 07-01 du 3 février 2007 relatif aux règles applicables aux transactions courantes avec l'étranger et aux comptes devises (version d'origine), p. 2 and article 144 of Law 23-09Loi 23-09 du 21 juin 2023 portant loi monétaire et bancaire (copie Banque d'Algérie), p. 36. That’s true even if you bring every dinar home: you still don’t have the authorisation, and the client pays the company, not you.
These offences are rarely prosecuted today, and you can still settle with the authorities for amounts up to 20 million dinars (Ordinance 10-03, art. 9 bisOrdonnance 10-03 modifiant l'ordonnance 96-22 (JO n° 50 de 2010)). But checks are tightening: an order published in the Official Journal in August 2026 empowered 21 Banque d’Algérie officers to record foreign exchange offences.
You split the year between Algeria and another country
The law doesn’t set a number of days. It looks at where your main centre of economic activity is (Law 23-09, art. 143Loi 23-09 du 21 juin 2023 portant loi monétaire et bancaire (copie Banque d'Algérie), p. 36). If you spend six months in Paris and six in Oran, with clients and income in both places, the answer isn’t obvious. If most of your work and income are still in Algeria, you’re still a resident and the case above applies. Keep proof of your life abroad (lease, contract, tax returns) and talk to a lawyer before you set up a company.
You really live abroad
If your life and work are in France, the UK, Canada or anywhere else, you’re a non-resident under Law 23-09Loi 23-09 du 21 juin 2023 portant loi monétaire et bancaire (copie Banque d'Algérie). Algeria’s rules on assets abroad don’t apply to your company. What matters is the tax and social security rules of the country you live in and of the country where the company is registered: a US LLC has its own filing obligations in the United States.
What you read online
- “The law only punishes hiding a company, not owning one.” Wrong. Article 8 of Regulation 07-01Règlement 07-01 du 3 février 2007 relatif aux règles applicables aux transactions courantes avec l'étranger et aux comptes devises (version d'origine), p. 2 bans assets abroad, and lacking the authorisation is an offence in itself (Ordinance 96-22). This line often comes from sites that sell LLC setups.
- “As long as I bring all the money home, I’m fine.” No. Repatriating doesn’t replace the Conseil’s authorisation.
- “An LLC lets me legally get around exchange controls.” No. A setup built to get around a rule is still covered by that rule.
The safe option: auto-entrepreneur status with a foreign currency account in Algeria that your clients pay directly (guides 4, 6 and 7).
Key points
- If you’re a resident of Algeria, a company abroad without authorisation is illegal, even if you bring everything home.
- What counts is where your main centre of economic activity is, not your nationality.
- If you really live abroad, Algeria’s rules on assets abroad don’t apply to you, but your own country’s rules do.
Sources
- Law 23-09 of 21 June 2023, monetary and banking law: art. 143 (residence) and art. 144 (capital transfers), p. 36; art. 166 (implementing texts kept in force), p. 41, read on 22 October 2026.
- Regulation 07-01 of 3 February 2007: art. 8, assets abroad, p. 2, read on 22 October 2026.
- Regulation 14-04 of 29 September 2014: art. 3, prior authorisation, p. 1; art. 6, conditions, p. 2; art. 7 and 9, cap and application file, p. 3, read on 22 October 2026.
- Regulation 26-02 of 23 July 2026: art. 2 (new art. 61 of Regulation 07-01), Official Journal no. 58 of 2026, p. 28, read on 22 October 2026.
- Ordinance 96-22 as amended: Ordinance 03-01, art. 2 (new article 1, offences), Official Journal no. 12 of 2003, p. 14; Ordinance 10-03, art. 1 bis (penalty), Official Journal no. 50 of 2010, p. 8; art. 9 bis (settlement), p. 9, read on 22 October 2026.
- Officers empowered to record exchange offences: Algérie Eco, 14 August 2026 (order of 26 July 2026, Official Journal no. 58 of 2026), read on 22 October 2026.