Schengen Visas and the Neocolonial Violation of Moroccans’ Right to Travel

In July 2023, Canada changed the rules for Moroccans entering its territory by establishing the AVE system, or Electronic Travel Authorization. This procedure is open to Moroccans who have already held a traditional visa in the last ten years or to those who have an entry visa to the United States. This is totally liberal but remains restrictive.

In the face of such illiberal, restrictive visa measures, one wonders why Europeans and countries with strong relations with Morocco (France, Spain, Belgium, etc.) are still reluctant to show Moroccans a degree of respect and reciprocity when it comes to issuing visas. During the era of so-called “settlement migration,” entry into Europe was paradoxically free, but things began to get tougher in the 1980s, especially with the introduction of the visa in 1986, when our “friends” Jacques Chirac and Charles Pasqua were in charge as France’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister respectively.

Visa procedures are humiliating for Moroccans

There was a time when one could freely walk inside the corridors of consulates. But this era of the humane treatment and respect of the visa seekers is now over, with consulates having been replaced by service businesses that act as a middleman between the applicant “who requests” the visa and the consulate “which grants it.”Today, the Schengen area locks itself in, barricades itself, “protects” itself from people who want to go there. It is normal to protect yourself but applying this to everyone, without distinction, is akin to a form of general distrust, of collective punishment, activated and/or reinforced, if necessary, by any government representing an angry Schengen State. This was the case in October 2021, when France announced its decision to reduce the number of visas granted to Moroccans travelers by a whopping 50%. So, on what basis do European countries deny people the right to enter the Schengen area for emergencies and other well-founded reasons? Is it simply because they can or like to reject as many people as possible to send a strong message about traveling to their countries? And how about the possibility of going there at any time?

It has been many years since the Schengen visa rules were in place, but where are we today?

Offices of TLS, the middleman company dealing with visa requests, have been unable to handle the surge of increased demand. As a result, they have been imposing arbitrary visa durations, extending appointment deadlines, and rejecting applications without any explanation since they are unable to handle the surge of increased demand.

After going through the extremely uncomfortable constraint of obtaining an appointment at TLS, Moroccans who meet all the requirements for obtaining a visa find themselves left at the mercy of the mood swings of often frustrated, obscure middlemen whom they nevertheless pay. Visa requests are now subject to the rules of a parallel, clandestine, illegal market, where an appointment is “booked” for the price of MAD 1,000 to 2,000.

Morocco should impose reciprocity

As if this state of affairs were not revolting enough already, it appears the Schengen States are now considering an increase in the fees collected by their service companies. While it is not legal to demand reimbursement for the costs associated with a denied application (a condition accepted in advance by the applicant), it is extremely inappropriate for these countries to unilaterally decide on this increase. As I have argued elsewhere, the visa is increasingly serving as both a diplomatic “weapon” and a conduit for the massive collection of personal data..

To be sure, decisions like increasing the cost of visa services are sovereign moves that Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs cannot oppose. As Morocco’s top diplomat Nasser Bourita and his then French counterpart Catherine Colonna may have suggested when the latter visited Morocco in December 2022, every state has the right to decide what it considers beneficial and useful for its people.

But then, why doesn’t our minister consider the usefulness of also taking a “sovereign decision,” notably by applying reciprocity to Schengen citizens? And why doesn’t the Moroccan state also establish a middleman service company for Europeans seeking a Moroccan visa, and/or apply entry fees to its territory, payable upon arrival on national soil?

Arrangements can be made to facilitate the procedure (electronic payment, payments to consulates, etc.). Furthermore, it would be up to Bourita to react against what we can call the visa diktat and the imposition of a private middleman company to recover the personal data of our compatriots.

There have been credible reports that such companies might have filmed visa applicants without their knowledge in order to send their images abroad. Morocco’s National Control Commission for the Protection of Personal Data (CNDP) opened an investigation into these claims about a year ago, but we have still been waiting for tangible results — measures were promised but never taken.

If Morocco, as its diplomacy stipulates, is influential in Africa, in the Arab world and even elsewhere, then it is up to its government to react to these European diktats by persuading African and Arab countries to take joint action to reject the procedures of visa through private companies.

The Schengen states could and would take recourse to improved protocols if all members of the Arab League or the African Union as a whole were to respond negatively to the use of middleman service companies when their citizens apply for European visas.

And should the European consulates simply refuse to directly grant visas to Moroccan applicants, Morocco ought to take action and insist that the service provider be a Moroccan private company or an extension of a Moroccan government, which would gather the applicants’ data and forward it to the relevant country’s consulate.

Respect is never granted

To go to a Schengen state, Moroccan citizens must obtain a near-impossible appointment with a foreign private company, provide them with all kinds of personal documents, be exposed to being filmed without their knowledge, often leave their passports without knowing when the visa will be “granted,” and be open to the humiliation of being “listed” as potentially undesirable when their requests are denied. In some cases, even after obtaining the much-sought visa, Moroccan travelers still face the risk of being denied entry at the border by an irascible agent. These are clearly colonial practices being brought up to date!

On the other hand, foreign tourists come to Morocco without any document other than their passports, often with very little money (everything is paid in the country of departure), and in relatively small numbers, since more than 50% of “tourist” entries are provided by Moroccans from around the world.

One day, Moroccans, Africans and Arabs will have to collectively reject these new forms of domination, which prevent solvent nationals from moving as they wish.

The Moroccan government should be held responsible, and also accountable, for our dignity as citizens! Like rights, respect is never granted — it is reclaimed, imposed.