By Katharina Moser
It is becoming increasingly difficult for people with citizenship in Africa to obtain a Schengen visa in Europe. Whether for tourism, family matters, education or conferences, African applicants face the highest rejection rates for Schengen visas in the world. This is shown by data published by the EU Commission in May.
According to the European Commission, the consulates of EU countries and Schengen associated countries received a total of more than 11.7 million applications for short-term visas in 2024. This is an increase of 13.6% compared to 2023 (10.3 million) and an increase of 56% compared to 2022 (7.5 million), but still lower than the number of applications in 2019 (17 million) before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, more than 9.7 million visas were issued, an increase of 14.1% compared to 2023 (8.5 million), but still lower than in 2019 (15 million).
The visa for a trip to Europe remains an insurmountable hurdle for many African travelers: In 2024, according to statistics, countries such as the Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana faced rejection rates of between 45% and 63%. This makes them among the most affected countries worldwide. At least Namibian applicants have a relatively low rejection rate of around five percent.
Rejection rates of up to 63 percent
Among the ten African countries most affected by application rejections are the Comoros, which tops the list with a rejection rate of 62.8%, followed by Guinea-Bissau with 47.0%, Senegal with 46.8%, Nigeria with a rejection rate of 45.9% and Ghana just behind with 45.5%. This is followed by Congo-Brazzaville (43.0%), Mali (approx. 43%) and Guinea (41.1%). Burundi is at 40%, and Ethiopia is in tenth place with 36.1%.
By comparison, the average rejection rate worldwide is around 18%, so the figures for Africa are exceptionally high.
An application for a Schengen visa is not cheap: applicants all over the world pay a non-refundable visa fee of 90 euros (just under 1900 Namibian dollars). While it originally amounted to 80 euros, the fee was raised to 90 euros in July 2024.
An analysis by the LAGO Collective shows that African countries lost a total of 60 million euros (67.5 million dollars) in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024. The London-based research and arts organization has been monitoring data on European short-term visas since 2022 and says that Africa is the continent most affected by the horrendous cost of rejected visas.
Nigerians alone, for whom 50,376 applications for Schengen visas were rejected, lost more than 4.5 million euros.
“The poorest countries in the world pay money to the richest countries in the world for not getting visas,” founder Marta Foresti told CNN. “The poorer the country in which a visa is applied for, the higher the rejection rates,” said Foresti. African countries are disproportionately affected, with rejection rates of 40-50% for countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria. This proves “built-in discrimination and bias” in the process.
EU pockets the fees
Many travelers whose visa applications are rejected feel that the rejection is factually unfounded. However, very few have the financial resources to take legal action against an unfair refusal. “The financial costs for rejected visas are simply breathtaking; you can think of them as ‘reverse remittances’, as money that flows from poor to rich countries and that we never hear about,” criticizes Foresti from the LAGO collective.
This is because applicants are not reimbursed the cost of the visa if their application is rejected. This means that the European interior ministries have been able to withhold millions of euros - 130 million euros in 2023 - known as “reverse remittances”. Around 42% of this sum was paid by applicants from Africa, although this continent only accounted for 24% of applications, according to Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Criticism also comes from the Center for European Reform. “Europe's increasingly strict approach to migration has become a major source of friction with African governments, and its visa policy is also seriously damaging the EU's image among Africa's intellectual, cultural and economic elites,” writes Katherine Pye. "There is no evidence that the EU's attempts to curb irregular migration by making it more difficult for travelers to obtain Schengen visas are succeeding. The EU should therefore rethink its approach to visa policy." The fact that African citizens want to visit, study and do business in Europe is an element of “soft power” that the EU could capitalize on to gain influence on the continent.
However, South African management lecturer Sikhumbuzo Maisela points out that the number of rejected visas for Africans is lower than he had expected. “The visa review process seems to be less about overt prejudice and more about historical patterns of behavior,” he told CNN. “There have been cases in Western countries where visa holders have overstayed or violated regulations, and this has affected the review of future applications.”
Pye from the Center for European Reform takes a different view. “Non-EU citizens already face heavy penalties and future entry bans if they overstay, and there is no evidence that the high visa refusal rate in the EU is reducing overstaying,” she says. "Many of the measures the EU is taking to reduce overstaying are weakly justified. For example, EU member states require applicants to provide extensive documentation, such as bank statements, to prove that they are able to spend at least €100 per day. These amounts are unaffordable for the vast majority of income earners in the Global South, even though there is no evidence that wealthier applicants are less likely to overstay."
Building pressure in the migration debate
According to Pye, the reason for the EU's strict visa regulations lies elsewhere. It has more to do with enforcing cooperation in another area: "Readmissions. Since 2019, the EU has applied a visa lever mechanism that explicitly links access to visas to the cooperation of African countries in the readmission of deported migrants," writes Pye. For several years, the EU has been trying to conclude agreements with African countries that would oblige them to take back migrants deported from Europe. So far, the EU has only succeeded in concluding an agreement with Cabo Verde, while negotiations with Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco have stalled. Even African countries that cooperate informally with the EU on readmission are only taking back a very small number of migrants.
The consequences of the strict visa regulations are tangible. As the Alliance for Medical Research shows in a research paper, systematic reviews have found that participants from low- and middle-income countries, which include all 54 African countries, are massively under-represented at global health conferences. “Ongoing visa-related issues are likely to exacerbate this under-representation and result in African researchers missing out on the opportunity to expand their knowledge, present their research on a global platform and make valuable contacts with other international experts.”
Russia and China make it easier
According to the Center for European Reform, this could also hurt the EU itself, as global adversaries such as Russia and China have significantly simplified their visa regimes for African citizens: In the last 10 years, Russia has signed visa-free travel agreements with South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and recently announced the expansion of a simplified e-visa program to Kenya, Eswatini and Zimbabwe. Although China also requires all African visitors to apply for a visa, the application fees are much lower: a short-term visa for a single entry to China costs around 6 euros from Nigeria and around 9 euros from Ethiopia.
"The current system is damaging the EU's reputation among a large group of people. World-famous African architects, lecturers, scientists, musicians and award-winning artists are repeatedly denied visas to present their work at international conferences, festivals and exhibitions," says Pye. It has become a matter of course that visa applications from internationally renowned experts are rejected at the last minute and with minimal justification. This, it seems inevitable, not only harms Africa, but also the European Union.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for people with citizenship in Africa to obtain a Schengen visa in Europe. Whether for tourism, family matters, education or conferences, African applicants face the highest rejection rates for Schengen visas in the world. This is shown by data published by the EU Commission in May.
According to the European Commission, the consulates of EU countries and Schengen associated countries received a total of more than 11.7 million applications for short-term visas in 2024. This is an increase of 13.6% compared to 2023 (10.3 million) and an increase of 56% compared to 2022 (7.5 million), but still lower than the number of applications in 2019 (17 million) before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, more than 9.7 million visas were issued, an increase of 14.1% compared to 2023 (8.5 million), but still lower than in 2019 (15 million).
The visa for a trip to Europe remains an insurmountable hurdle for many African travelers: In 2024, according to statistics, countries such as the Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana faced rejection rates of between 45% and 63%. This makes them among the most affected countries worldwide. At least Namibian applicants have a relatively low rejection rate of around five percent.
Rejection rates of up to 63 percent
Among the ten African countries most affected by application rejections are the Comoros, which tops the list with a rejection rate of 62.8%, followed by Guinea-Bissau with 47.0%, Senegal with 46.8%, Nigeria with a rejection rate of 45.9% and Ghana just behind with 45.5%. This is followed by Congo-Brazzaville (43.0%), Mali (approx. 43%) and Guinea (41.1%). Burundi is at 40%, and Ethiopia is in tenth place with 36.1%.
By comparison, the average rejection rate worldwide is around 18%, so the figures for Africa are exceptionally high.
An application for a Schengen visa is not cheap: applicants all over the world pay a non-refundable visa fee of 90 euros (just under 1900 Namibian dollars). While it originally amounted to 80 euros, the fee was raised to 90 euros in July 2024.
An analysis by the LAGO Collective shows that African countries lost a total of 60 million euros (67.5 million dollars) in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024. The London-based research and arts organization has been monitoring data on European short-term visas since 2022 and says that Africa is the continent most affected by the horrendous cost of rejected visas.
Nigerians alone, for whom 50,376 applications for Schengen visas were rejected, lost more than 4.5 million euros.
“The poorest countries in the world pay money to the richest countries in the world for not getting visas,” founder Marta Foresti told CNN. “The poorer the country in which a visa is applied for, the higher the rejection rates,” said Foresti. African countries are disproportionately affected, with rejection rates of 40-50% for countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria. This proves “built-in discrimination and bias” in the process.
EU pockets the fees
Many travelers whose visa applications are rejected feel that the rejection is factually unfounded. However, very few have the financial resources to take legal action against an unfair refusal. “The financial costs for rejected visas are simply breathtaking; you can think of them as ‘reverse remittances’, as money that flows from poor to rich countries and that we never hear about,” criticizes Foresti from the LAGO collective.
This is because applicants are not reimbursed the cost of the visa if their application is rejected. This means that the European interior ministries have been able to withhold millions of euros - 130 million euros in 2023 - known as “reverse remittances”. Around 42% of this sum was paid by applicants from Africa, although this continent only accounted for 24% of applications, according to Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Criticism also comes from the Center for European Reform. “Europe's increasingly strict approach to migration has become a major source of friction with African governments, and its visa policy is also seriously damaging the EU's image among Africa's intellectual, cultural and economic elites,” writes Katherine Pye. "There is no evidence that the EU's attempts to curb irregular migration by making it more difficult for travelers to obtain Schengen visas are succeeding. The EU should therefore rethink its approach to visa policy." The fact that African citizens want to visit, study and do business in Europe is an element of “soft power” that the EU could capitalize on to gain influence on the continent.
However, South African management lecturer Sikhumbuzo Maisela points out that the number of rejected visas for Africans is lower than he had expected. “The visa review process seems to be less about overt prejudice and more about historical patterns of behavior,” he told CNN. “There have been cases in Western countries where visa holders have overstayed or violated regulations, and this has affected the review of future applications.”
Pye from the Center for European Reform takes a different view. “Non-EU citizens already face heavy penalties and future entry bans if they overstay, and there is no evidence that the high visa refusal rate in the EU is reducing overstaying,” she says. "Many of the measures the EU is taking to reduce overstaying are weakly justified. For example, EU member states require applicants to provide extensive documentation, such as bank statements, to prove that they are able to spend at least €100 per day. These amounts are unaffordable for the vast majority of income earners in the Global South, even though there is no evidence that wealthier applicants are less likely to overstay."
Building pressure in the migration debate
According to Pye, the reason for the EU's strict visa regulations lies elsewhere. It has more to do with enforcing cooperation in another area: "Readmissions. Since 2019, the EU has applied a visa lever mechanism that explicitly links access to visas to the cooperation of African countries in the readmission of deported migrants," writes Pye. For several years, the EU has been trying to conclude agreements with African countries that would oblige them to take back migrants deported from Europe. So far, the EU has only succeeded in concluding an agreement with Cabo Verde, while negotiations with Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco have stalled. Even African countries that cooperate informally with the EU on readmission are only taking back a very small number of migrants.
The consequences of the strict visa regulations are tangible. As the Alliance for Medical Research shows in a research paper, systematic reviews have found that participants from low- and middle-income countries, which include all 54 African countries, are massively under-represented at global health conferences. “Ongoing visa-related issues are likely to exacerbate this under-representation and result in African researchers missing out on the opportunity to expand their knowledge, present their research on a global platform and make valuable contacts with other international experts.”
Russia and China make it easier
According to the Center for European Reform, this could also hurt the EU itself, as global adversaries such as Russia and China have significantly simplified their visa regimes for African citizens: In the last 10 years, Russia has signed visa-free travel agreements with South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and recently announced the expansion of a simplified e-visa program to Kenya, Eswatini and Zimbabwe. Although China also requires all African visitors to apply for a visa, the application fees are much lower: a short-term visa for a single entry to China costs around 6 euros from Nigeria and around 9 euros from Ethiopia.
"The current system is damaging the EU's reputation among a large group of people. World-famous African architects, lecturers, scientists, musicians and award-winning artists are repeatedly denied visas to present their work at international conferences, festivals and exhibitions," says Pye. It has become a matter of course that visa applications from internationally renowned experts are rejected at the last minute and with minimal justification. This, it seems inevitable, not only harms Africa, but also the European Union.
