African visa applicants face highest rejection rates in Europe's Schengen area

According to the report, despite Africa’s low number of applications for the Schengen visa, nearly a third encounter rejection.

A professor at the European University Institute, Mehari Taddele Maru, highlighted the disparity, noting that African applicants experience rejection rates approximately 10% higher than the global average. The report revealed that Algeria leads the pack, with 46% of its over 390,000 Schengen visa applications in 2022 being denied.

Other countries, such as Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Senegal, and Mali, also faced refusal rates ranging from 40% to 45%.

Globally, the total rejection rate surged from 5% to 17.5% in 2022, marking an increase of 12.5%. In Africa, the rejection rate reached 30% over the same period, a 12% increase from the 18% rejection rate in 2014, and nearly twice the global average. About three in ten African Schengen visa applicants were rejected, compared to one in ten applicants worldwide,” the report read.

European states predominantly cited "reasonable doubts about the visa applicants' intention to return home" as the primary reason for rejections. However, researchers argue that such justifications mask an inherent bias against African applicants, despite claims of security or economic concerns.

On the relationship between passport power and visa rejection, the report indicated that “notably, access to Schengen visas corresponds to the economic and passport power of the applicant's country of nationality. The poorer the country of nationality, the higher the rejection rate. Many African countries have low gross national income per capita and also rank low on the Henley Passport Index, which measures the number of destinations a passport holder can enter without a visa. A lower ranking correlates with a high level of rejection for Schengen visa applicants.”