Schengen visa statistics published recently indicate that Nigerians and other Africans hoping to obtain a visa to enter the EU would have to pay more because the EU intends to raise the cost of visas beginning on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
According to the report, African citizens will now have to pay â¬90 rather than the usual â¬80 for a Schengen visa application as from Tuesday.
A Schengen visa holder can visit any of the Schengen states during the same trip within the validity of the visa.
The Schengen area, encompassing 27 countries commonly referred to as “Schengen States,” operates without border controls among them. These countries apply the common visa policy for short-stay visas.
These countries include Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Rejected Schengen visa applications from Nigerian nationals brought in â¬3.4 million for the EU, according to the research.
Based on the data, Punch reported that there were 704,000 refusals of visa applications by African nationals in 2023.
It stated:
The report stated that African citizens have been forced to spend millions of dollars annually because many of their visa applications have been denied.
These fees, sometimes known as “reverse remittances,” only benefit the EU member states.
It added that African nationals spent â¬56.3m in visa application fees in 2023, representing 43% of all expenses; rejection rates in 2023 were especially high for African and Asian countries, which bear 90% of all expenses.
It further stated that given that the majority of African nations have some of the lowest wages in the world, Africans were disproportionately affected by those costs.
As per the research, 43.1% of the total amount generated by rejected applications in 2023 was attributed to Africans.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported a directive enabling Nigerians to apply for Schengen visas through the Bulgarian and Romanian embassies.
A report had said the two countries announced plan to issue Schengen C visas, which permits short-term entry and stays of up to 90 days within 180 days into the Schengen Area from April 1, 2024.
To apply for a Schengen visa, a Nigerian must visit the embassy of the country one intends to visit.
Proofreading by James Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at TimesNow.com.ng.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
