Africans are Paying Huge Costs for Rejected Visa Applications
Tens of millions of dollars were lost to visa fees in 2024, as cynicism continues to fuel a higher rejection rate for Africans compared to the rest of the world.
Over 25,000 Schengen visa applicants in Ghana were denied visas, at a cost of over $2 million.
Of the 13 countries that faced a 40 percent or higher rate of Schengen visa rejections in 2024, nine were African countries. That’s a slight increase from the previous year, when seven African countries hit or surpassed the 40 percent rejection rate mark.
Omo Adu Danso, a systems engineer living in Accra, Ghana, was rejected for a Schengen visa last year, halting some ambiguously laid plans to travel through parts of Europe for a few weeks during the summer. The visa, if granted, would have given Danso a 180-day window to travel across 29 European countries – including France, Italy, Germany, and Finland – that make up the Schengen Area.
“They said some of the documents I provided couldn’t be properly verified,” Danso tells OkayAfrica. “Something about the reliability of the information I provided, which I just took to mean that they didn’t believe that I would return to Ghana when the visa expires.”
According to data shared by the LAGO Collective, a research and creative collective on migration, culture and the arts, over 25,000 Ghanaian Schengen visa applicants were denied last year, an increase from the 21,000-plus people who were denied in 2023. Although the percentage of rejected applicants reduced slightly, there was a nearly 25 percent bump in the amount lost due to visa rejections, partly due to an increase in the price of visa applications, from €80 ($90) to €85 ($100). Last year’s rejected Schengen visas cost Ghanaian applicants over $2 million.
West African countries accounted for more than half of the African countries with high rejection percentage rates, with Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau on the list of countries with rejection rates of 40 percent or higher. Comoros has the highest rejection rate of all countries at nearly 63 percent, with just over 1,000 of almost 3,000 applicants receiving Schengen visas. Burundi and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) round out the list. Cumulatively, embassies made about $14 million from rejected application fees.
Countries like Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, although with rejection rates below 40 percent, rank among the highest in terms of fees from rejected applicants, with the cumulative amount from all three exceeding $34 million.
“The poorest countries in the world are paying the richest countries not to let them in,” Marta Foresti, founder of the UK-based LAGO Collective, says. “The poorer the country of origin, the higher the rejection rates.”
For example, the UK generated approximately £10 million ($13.5 million) from rejected visa applications from Nigeria and Ghana alone in 2024, accounting for over 40 percent of applications from these countries. Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt also contributed £3.5 million ($4.7 million) in that time frame, with rejection rates ranging from 23 percent (Egypt) to 52 percent (Algeria).
Passport mobility has been a decades-long struggle for many Africans, limiting travel possibilities even when individuals are financially capable and have valid reasons for their travels. Even extensive travel within the continent has its visa hassles. On the Henley Passport Index, South Africa is the highest-ranked African country, ranking 50th out of 101 places. This means that all countries on the continent are ranked in the lower half of the index, indicating African passport holders are subject to a heightened level of travel scrutiny.
“I think it stems from the idea that there’s a lot of desperation,” Ishioma Imokhai-Bello tells OkayAfrica. “They feel like some people will overstay their visa and want tojapa from there. The lack of trust is a defining part of applying for a visa.”
Imokhai-Bello, publisher of the women-centricThe Benchmark, was denied a Schengen visa over a year ago despite a credible company and event being the reason for her travel. She shared the stressful nature of the process, including dealing with runners and agents at the embassy, the emergency printing of numerous documents at prices higher than those in non-embassy locations, and paying the expensive, non-refundable visa application fee.
“Someone said I got denied because I didn’t have a lot of stamps in my passport,” she tells OkayAfrica. “Maybe if I had traveled to a few countries with the passport, I would have gotten the visa. But I don’t think that should have been the main factor because all the information I gave them was credible.”
Honour Aghedo, a project manager at a music distribution and label services company, recently obtained a Schengen visa, and he credits “building my distance” as a significant factor in his successful application. Aghedo has recently traveled to several countries in West Africa, as well as to Ethiopia, and he believes that, amongst other things, this has granted him a little more fidelity during his visa application process.
Getting an approved Schengen visa as an African is a complex process that involves several factors. After all, despite low rejection rates for southern African countries like Zimbabwe (16 percent), South Africa (5 percent), and Mozambique (8 percent), Africa’s rejection rates are well above the 18 percent global average.
“I’m considering applying again for a Schengen visa,” Danso, who wants to visit several friends in Europe this summer, tells OkayAfrica. “I’ve been to Nigeria, [Republic of] Benin, and Rwanda in the past year; I hope that gives me a better chance. I just hope I don’t waste my money again on a rejection.”
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