A member of my family (who is a French citizen) is currently applying for the Visa Waiver Program of the USA. The member was born in a city in former French Algeria (before independence).
In the field "Country of Birth", should he therefore select "France" (as the city was located in the former French Algeria) or "Algeria" (the country where the city is now)?
It's worth pointing out the guidelines the USA itself applies to U.S. passport holders:
(My emphasis)
7 FAM 1330 APPENDIX D BIRTH OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES - CURRENT SOVEREIGNTY RULE
(CT:CON-254; 04-29-2008)
a. It is the Department of State policy that place of birth in a U.S. passport should reflect the current sovereignty as determined by the Office of the Geographer (INR/GGI) and the regional geographic bureau.
b. As a general rule, the country that currently has sovereignty over the actual place of birth is listed as the place of birth, regardless of when the birth occurred. Passport authorizing officers must use the country of birth as it is now known for a place of birth listing, unless otherwise specified in this appendix.
c. For a location whose sovereignty is in dispute, is not yet resolved, or is not recognized by the United States, this appendix provides specific guidance.
Source: 7 FAM 1300 APPENDIX D
I'm not sure whether France has a similar guideline, but if they don't, going with the above (meaning: Algeria, not France) may be your safest bet. This would also be in line with Spehro's answer.
Algeria. A look at the (electronic) form DS-160 tells you this:
It is pretty obvious that the point of the question is to locate the place of birth on a current map. Therefore, you put the current name of the country, which is Algeria.
The standard advice with visa applications is to be as honest and straightforward as possible. Any attempt to game the system is bound to end badly.
To forestall the pedants, place clearly refers to city/town/village - not country or they wouldn't also ask for country. If you were free to interpret place as freely as some of the comments above suggest, you could put Planet Earth. Good luck with that at Immigration Control.
