During a long interview on the French channel TV5, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco in Paris was invited to comment on the costly and complex procedures for obtaining a Schengen visa. “It is not up to me to respond to a visa granting system which was set up by Europe, by European countries. I can just make one comment perhaps, which is that of a form of indecency with which visa applications are financed. Funding is requested for visas which are not granted,” pointed out Ms. Samira Sitaïl.
Indeed, Moroccan public opinion, but also Schengen visa applicants in other African countries, have regularly denounced the cost of this visa (€90), an amount paid even in the event of refusal.
“There is something indecent that needs to be resolved, but Morocco is absolutely not concerned. Europe should correct this definitively, the credibility of the system for granting these visas and its credibility among African populations depends on it.”
Samira Sitaïl
For the record, in the midst of a crisis in Franco-Moroccan relations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, assured in statements to the press that Morocco had “taken note of the decision” of the French authorities to reduce by 50% the granting visas to Moroccans, qualifying it as “sovereign but unjustified”.
Belgium
