4.1. How do we collect your personal data?
We obtain your personal data when you visit our website or contact us, in particular when you fill in a form or call us, when you submit an appointment/visa request, when you visit our Visa Application Center or when you use some of our additional services.
4.2. What do we collect?
We will use, store or otherwise process any of your personal data in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Notice, including but not limited to:
- Personal details: name, email address, telephone number, postal address.
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Audio files pertaining to telephone interactions;
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Data inserted in TLScontact AI chat system;
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IP address, operating system, browser type (as TLScontact website uses cookies – please check 4.5. below);
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Financial data: payment details;
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CCTV images for general surveillance.
When we collect personal data through forms, including electronic forms, we will indicate the mandatory fields with an asterisk (*). While it is not mandatory to provide your personal data, please note that we may not be able to deliver these services without it.
4.3. How is your personal data used?
We will never sell your personal data or use it in any way without your direct knowledge.
We may use your personal data for example to:
- Provide you any additional services that you request, which are provided by TLScontact for its own account or for the account of certain TLScontact trusted partners (i.e., service directly linked or not to the visa application) and process your payments; • Ensure the security of TLScontact’s employees, visitors, customers and premises;
- To answer your questions and/or resolve disputes relating to TLScontact services (including questions asked via the AI chatbot integrated into the website);
- Request your feedback on our services with the aim of improving their quality. You can withdraw your consent to receive any question regarding the quality of our services at any time by contacting us on-line through the "Contact Us" page (explained further under section 4 below) or by contacting our Data Protection Officer at the email address indicated above;
- Send you marketing communications (with your consent). We will not share your personal data with third parties for direct marketing purposes unless you have given your express consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time by unsubscribing the communications through the link available at the e-mail, by contacting us online via the "Contact Us" page, or by contacting our Data Protection Officer at the email address indicated above;
- Comply with a legal obligation.
- Improve the functionality of this website to create a better user experience and gain knowledge of how visitors view and utilise it.
In order to process your personal data lawfully, we must rely on one or more valid legal grounds. The grounds we rely on include:
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Where we process your personal data to provide you with the requested services and deal with enquiries and claims relating to these services (including questions asked
through the AI chatbot on the website), to handle your payments, the legal basis for processing is the a contractual obligation;
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Where we process your personal data to deal with enquiries not related to a specific service, to request feedback on our services, to improve our website experience or to protect our employees, visitors and premises, the legal basis for processing is the legitimate interests pursued by TLScontact (except where your interests or fundamental rights override these), more specifically its economic/business interest in making you personalized offers, responding to your needs, offering you adapted services, and in ensuring its security. We rely on legitimate interests based on our evaluation that the processing is fair, reasonable, and balanced.
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Where we process your personal data to send you marketing communications, the legal basis of the processing is your consent.
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Where processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, the processing is based on such a legal obligation.
4.4. AI Chat Services
We provide AI-powered chat services to assist you with your visa application process and answer questions about our services. When you use our AI chat functionality:
- Your conversations with our AI chat system are processed to provide you with relevant assistance and support; - Chat data may be used to improve customer support quality;
- All chat conversations and associated data are automatically deleted after 30 days (unless when a longer retention period is required by applicable law, court order, or in connection with legal proceedings or regulatory investigations).
We do not intend to collect sensitive personal data through the chatbot. Therefore, we ask that you do not provide any Sensitive Personal Data. However, if you wish to provide such personal data for any reason, TLScontact will accept your explicit consent to use that personal data in the ways described in this privacy statement or at the point where you choose to provide us with it.
Personal data obtained via the chatbot is used only for the stated purposes at the time the data is collected.
If you have concerns about our AI chat services or wish to opt out of using this feature, you can contact us using the e-mail above.
4.5. Use of cookies
When you browse this site, cookies may be stored on your device to be reused on future visits. Essential cookies are always used to ensure that the website functions properly. We may also use personalization cookies to recognize your preferences and analytical cookies to understand how the site is used and how we can improve its performance. You can choose to accept or decline non-essential cookies.
However, if you decline them, some features of the site may not be available or may not function properly.
Please read our Cookie Policy for additional information about the cookies we use, as well as related questions.
4.6. How long we store personal data?
We review our retention periods for personal data on a regular basis. We generally keep your personal data for only as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it is processed ( e.g. for the duration of the provision of the service, during your presence in our premises, for maximum one month regarding CCTV images and for one year as a maximum from the last contact with you regarding marketing communications, where applicable and permitted by the local legislation).
However, there are instances where we may be obliged to retain certain types of personal data for a longer period in order to meet our statutory obligations or in accordance with the applicable statute of limitations.
4.7. How long we store personal data?
Companies of the TLScontact Group or the Teleperformance Group
We may share your personal data with companies belonging to the TLScontact group and/or the Teleperformance group when this is necessary to process your requests, to provide services or to solicit your feedback on the quality of our services.
Third parties for legal reasons
We will share personal data with third parties:
- To comply with legal obligations and respond to requests from public authorities, including law enforcement and other public authorities, which may include such authorities outside your country of residence.
- In the event of a merger, sale, restructure, acquisition, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
- To protect our rights, users, systems, and services.
Independent service providers who work on our behalf
We may share your personal data with our independent service providers, contractors and other associated organizations in order to perform certain tasks and provide services to you on our behalf. We will only disclose personal data that is necessary for the performance of the service.
The independent service providers who participate in the provision of the services we offer to you are:
- technology providers that enable the processing of your request;
- providers and partners of services related to logistic, transport and delivery, and/or their partner establishments.
Before sharing personal data, we ensure that all service providers are bound by a contractual obligation and can provide documented evidence that your personal data:
- will be kept secure and confidential;
- is only stored for as long as is necessary to perform the service required;
- will never be used for any purpose other than the performance of the requested service;
- will never be used for commercial prospecting purposes, unless you consent to it.
4.8. Overseas transfer of your personal data
Due to the nature of our business, your personal data may be transferred outside the borders of Algeria when we have a valid business reason to do so and have received approval from the Algerian Data Protection Authority.
Any organisation to which your data is transferred is required to safeguard personal information in accordance with our contractual obligations and the law.
When you apply for a visa or any other related service, your personal information will be transferred to the country for which you are applying. We will never transfer your personal data in an unsafe or insecure way.
If we transfer your personal data to countries whose applicable laws do not offer the same level of data privacy and protection, we will ensure compliance with Algeria applicable laws and regulations, particularly with regard to legal requirements relating to the international transfer of personal data and security.