Moroccan MP Calls to Impose Visa-on-Arrival for Europeans

Rabat – Fatima Tamni, Moroccan MP from the Federation of the Democratic Left, has urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to demand a visa-on-arrival for visitors coming from European countries that have specific visa restrictions for Moroccans.

On Wednesday, Tamni asked Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to take urgent measures to address the visa rejection issues faced by Moroccan citizens.

“It is known that there are hundreds of thousands of visa applications filed by Moroccans at the consular services of European countries, especially France, Spain, Italy, Portugal each year,” she highlighted in an official letter addressed to minister Nasser Bourita. Tamni added that this “”constitutes an important financial source for the concerned countries that reap huge sums of money estimated at millions of dirhams”

Tamni suggested that adopting on-arrival visa requirements for European visitors will “bring money to the state treasury and preserve the dignity of Morocco and Moroccans.”

French consulates have been systematically rejecting visa applications from eligible Moroccan candidates after the French government decided to arbitrarily cut the number of visas issued to Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. According to recent reports, the number of visas issued has been cut by at least 75%.

The visa restriction measures have impacted regular citizens, business people, and diplomats alike.

Moroccans have categorically rejected the French government’s politically-driven visa measures. Many took to social media, condemning the “unjustifiable” rejection of Moroccan Schengen visa applications.

In 2021, 39,520 out of more than 157,000 Schengen visa applications filed by Moroccan nationals were rejected; a rate that is 30% higher than the global average, according to Schengen Visa News.

Earlier this week, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) addressed a letter to President Emmanuel Macron, denouncing recent visa denials of Moroccan applications.

Describing the French visa restrictions as “insults to Moroccan citizens,” AMDH said in the letter that it cannot find an “explanation for this sudden decision,” arguing that France is putting pressure on its former colonies to “submit” to its “military-economic and geostrategic interests.”