The EU has unveiled plans to increase visa fees starting Tuesday, according to Schengen visa statistics released on Saturday.
By implication, African nationals seeking visas to enter the European Union countries will shoulder additional expenses.
The report stated that starting from Tuesday; African nationals would pay €90 instead of €80 for a Schengen visa application
The report stated that the EU had earned €3.4m from rejected Schengen visa applications submitted by Nigerian citizens.
According to the data, in 2023, African nationals received 704,000 negative responses for their visa requests.
“This means that €56.3m went up in smoke, considering that visa application fees are not refundable,” it stated.
The report noted that a high number of rejected visa applications had caused African nationals to spend millions every year, with the fees known as ‘reverse remittances’ benefitting no one but the EU countries.
“African nationals spent €56.3m in visa application fees in 2023, representing 43 per cent of all expenses; rejection rates in 2023 were especially high for African and Asian countries, which bear 90 per cent of all expenses. Expenditures are to increase by 12.5 per cent starting next week as the EU raises visa fees for adults from €80 to €90 on 11 June, following a recent decision by the EU Commission,” it added.
Algeria was the country of origin for most rejected applications in 2023, representing 23.5 per cent of all amount spent on rejected applications.
The country also had the second-highest number of rejected applications compared to all – 289,000 out of 704,000, representing 42.3 per cent of all requests.
