Rabat – Moroccan students in Belgium have submitted the second-highest number of visa applications for long-stay visas in 2022, according to Belgium’s Immigration Office.
By the end of June, Moroccan students submitted 621 long-stay visa applications, placing them second to Cameroon with 646 applications.
The office reported that 577 Moroccan students applied for long-stay visas to pursue studies in a state- higher education institute, while 26 of them went to private institutes.
Official data from Belgium’s Immigration Office further note that 65% of the Moroccan applications for 2022 were accepted.
Chinese students ranked third based on the number of long-stay applications received by all of Belgium’s diplomatic representations — with a total of 241 applications. Following e are Turkey, India, the United States, and Iran. Pakistan placed 8th, ahead of Lebanon and Canada.
As of June, Belgium’s diplomatic representatives worldwide received a total of 2,084 long-stay visa applications from students pursuing or wanting to pursue their studies in the European country.
The Immigration Office additionally extended the long-stay ID card for 90% of applications, representing the cases of 2,348 foreign students. Of these, 2,287 pursue studies in a state-recognized higher-education school while 61 go to private institutes.
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Besides being a study destination for Moroccans, Belgium hosts a large community of North Africans.
In 2021, 3,611 Moroccans received Belgian citizenship, representing 9% of foreign nationals.
“While Morocco has always been by far the most important country of origin over the past two decades, it is closely followed by Syria in 2021,” the report said.
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