African Schengen Visa Denials: Report Points to Overstay Concerns and Economic Factors
Henley & Partners, a British migration consultancy firm, has released its Global Mobility July Report, highlighting the significant rejection rates of Schengen Visa applications submitted by Africans. The report identifies two primary reasons for the high rejection rates: concerns about overstaying and the economic conditions in many African countries.
Possible Causes of Rejection
Concerns on Overstays
According to the report, European nations are especially concerned with visa holders who do not go back home after their visas expire. It is reported that these countries often have difficulties enforcing return policies due to possible public backlash and as such they require applicants to unequivocally show their plans of returning back home after visitation.
Economic Factors
Visa denial is also influenced by economic conditions in native countries of applicants. Henley & Partners noted that European immigration officials consider the economic status of a country while determining an applicant’s probability of going back. This mode is found within the Schengen visa regime and likely replicated in other middle and upper income country visas systems.
Countries with High Visa Denial Rates
In the report, several European countries are mentioned as having high visa denial rates for Africans applying for visas. These include:
Malta
Norway
Slovenia
Estonia
Spain
Sweden
Belgium
France
Portugal
Denmark
Impact of Economic Conditions According to Henley & Partners, a nation’s economic condition is related to whether the person will or can go back home after visiting it.
They also noted that Ireland and other European countries such as revoked all visa-free travel privileges to South African and Botswana passport holders due to these factors in order not allow an influx of asylum seekers from poor nations.
Visa Application Trends in Africa Kenya is among the leading African countries in terms of Schengen Visa applications. In 2023 alone, there were up to 56187 applications from Kenya. The report also gave historical data saying that between 2020 and 2022 there were 68161 applications from the country. Rejection rate for Kenyan applicants according to Schengen News was 24% in 2022.
Conclusion
The conclusions in this article state that most rejections are initiated by concerns over doubts about the applicant’s intention or ability to leave before their visa expires. The majority of European states rely on fair doubt that applicants will return home as their basis for denying them entry.
African Schengen Visa Denials: Report Points to Overstay Concerns and Economic Factors
