Moroccans paid €3 million for rejected EU visas in 2021

Last updated Feb 21, 2023

Shocking figures revealed by the website “visa Schengen”, dedicated to news, updates and statistics of Schengen visas, on the expenses of Moroccans during the year 2021 on visa applications to enter different European countries.

According to the same source, Moroccans paid at least 3 million euros in 2021 for visa applications at one of the embassies and consulates of Schengen countries in Morocco, but did not receive them.

He pointed out that although Morocco is the fifth most requested country in the world for Schengen visas, after the Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia, it has the highest rejection rate among these five countries.

Schengen representatives in Morocco rejected a total of 157 thousand one hundred Moroccan visa applications for the region during the same year, which represents 27.6% of the total applications submitted, while the rejection rate in the first four countries was 3.2%, 16.9%, 2.7% and 4.3%, respectively.

Figures from the same source indicate that the French state is the Schengen country most rejected by Moroccans for obtaining a visa, since out of 58310 applications submitted in 2021, this European country rejected 20369, equivalent to 35%.

Spain comes second in terms of the number of rejected applications, but this is much lower than in France, as out of 84,499 Schengen visa applications submitted to the Iberian state, 15,137 were rejected, which is equivalent to 18 per cent.

In this context, Besart Bajrami, founder of the “SchengenVisaInfo” website, said that if we take into account that the cost of a unified, non-refundable Schengen visa application is 80 euros, Moroccans have spent at least 3 million euros on visas that they have not obtained, even though this amount may be twice as high.

“3 million is not even close to the actual amount Moroccans spend on applying for Schengen visas,” he added, referring in this context to a set of additional expenses Moroccans are forced to pay for the preparation of their application file and the required documents, which are mostly covered by a third party (visa filing agencies).

Moroccans are also obliged to pay for travel insurance, they often book hotels and flights with non-refundable fees, as well as paying a small amount here and there for other documents they have to provide, so, adds the same expert, “it is difficult to calculate the total amount spent in this regard in 2021, but the amount of visa fees is at least 3 million euros”, notes Bajrami.

Overall, France, Spain and Germany are the three Schengen countries responsible for the majority of rejected Schengen visas in 2021, where 252,522 applications were rejected out of a total of 379,207 applications rejected for the rest of the region.