African nationals Spent €56.3 Million On Rejected Visa Applications To EU Countries In 2023 – Report

Source: Ghanaija

Nationals of several African countries spent a total of €56.3 million on visa applications for European Union (EU) countries in 2023 but unfortunately had their applications rejected, according to a new report.

Data from Schengen Visa Statistics showed that in 2023, African nationals received 704,000 negative responses for their Visa requests.

The report says EU visa applications’ rejection rates in 2023 “were especially high for African and Asian countries, who bear 90 percent of all expenses.”

According to the report, Algerians were the “main spenders for Schengen visas in 2023.”

It says “Algeria is the country of origin for most rejected applications in 2023, representing 23.5 per cent of all amount spent on rejected applications.”

Algerians, the report added, also have the second-highest number of rejected applications compared to all – 289,000 out of 704,000, representing 42.3 per cent of all requests, adding that “This nationality group is especially impacted by visa rejections because it has high application rates and they are affected economically when placing visa applications.”

A Schengen visa application costs €80 which is equal to almost one-third of the average wage in Algeria (€300), says the report, noting that in 2024 the Visa application fee will increase to €90.

The report further revealed that Moroccans, the top visa applicants from Africa for 2023, have the highest number of visas rejected, saying “A total of 437,000 visa requests filed by this nationality group were rejected in 2023, representing 62 per cent of the total. As per expenses, Moroccans spent €10.9 million on rejected visa applications in 2023.”

It said: “To put into perspective, the amount of Africans rejected visas is 43.1 per cent of all the amount generated by rejected applications in 2023.”