Nigerians spent the sum of €3,435,200 in applying for Schengen visas in 2023 but their applications turned out to be unsuccessful.
This was disclosed in a report by EUobserver as quoted by Schengen visa statistics.
“The European Union (EU) earned €3,435,200 from rejected Schengen visa applications from Nigeria in 2023,” the report read.
“Globally, the EU governments raked in €130 million from rejected Schengen visa applications with African and Asian countries shouldering 90% of the costs.”
Also according to the report, African countries particularly, are disproportionately impacted, with rejection rates as high as 40-50% for the trio of West African nations, Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria.
“Notably, the figures do not account for the costs incurred from being unable to travel for business and leisure or the expenses for legal advice and private agencies involved in processing visa applications,” EUobserver said.
The founder of LAGO Collective and senior visiting fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, Marta Foresti, however, said that “visa inequality has very tangible consequences and the world’s poorest pay the price”.
“You can think of the costs of rejected visas as ‘reverse remittances’, money flowing from poor to rich countries. We never hear about these costs when discussing aid or migration, it is time to change that,” she added.
