African Nationals Lost Nearly €70 Million in Non-Refundable Schengen Visa Fees in 2024
African nationals lost nearly €70 million (approximately $67.5 million) in non-refundable Schengen visa fees in 2024, according to data published by the London-based research group LAGO Collective. This staggering sum reflects a disturbing phenomenon: African applicants pay high fees for visas that are often denied, with no possibility of reimbursement.
The report highlights that Africa is the most affected region in the world by this system, due to particularly high refusal rates and increasing application fees. As of July 2024, the standard cost of a Schengen visa application increased from €80 to €90 (approximately $100). For example, in Nigeria, over 50,000 short-stay visa applications were rejected last year, resulting in a financial loss of over €4.5 million for Nigerian applicants.
The figures clearly show that the poorer the country of origin, the lower the chances of obtaining a visa. In 2023, data already showed that African applicants were twice as likely to be rejected as their Asian counterparts, despite submitting fewer applications.
The numbers confirm this trend. Comoros tops the list with a refusal rate of 61.3%, followed by Guinea-Bissau (51%), Ghana (47.5%), Mali (46.1%), Sudan (42.3%), and Senegal (41.2%).
These financial losses, dubbed "reverse remittances" by Foresti, represent a flow of money from poor countries to rich countries, without any concrete benefit to the applicants. Unlike other service fees, Schengen visa fees are not refundable, even in cases of rejection, which further burdens the applicants.
