Algerians Spent DZD 10 Billion To Realize The European Dream

Results of the European Union in Algeria for the period between January,1 and July, 31 of this year, reveal that the bill which was paid by the Algerians for the costs of obtaining a single visa to enter the European territory under the “Schengen” space, exceeded DZD 10 billion, while the rate of refusal to grant visas during the first six months of the current year compared to the same period in 2018, reached 28%.

In details, an official source in the European Union in Algeria told Echorouk, on Wednesday, that their services ranked Algeria in the first place in the Arab world and the Maghreb region, in terms of applications for Schengen visas, in the last five years, compared with neighboring Morocco and Tunisia, and the rate of refusal to grant visas during the first six months of this year compared to the same period of 2018, with an increase of 2% of the total applications that were filed annually in the European countries under the Schengen space.

In the order of the number of files that were filed by the Algerians whose visas applications were rejected, Echorouk source added: “The French embassy occupies the first rank in terms of the amount of money that was paid by the visa applicants and whose files were refused without compensation”.

“In terms of numbers, the countries that are members of the European Union during the period from January,2, to July 31, granted 250.000 Schengen visas for short and long-term periods to the Algerians”.

France tops the list of countries that have granted more than 50,000 visas, while France visa centers in Algiers, Annaba, and Oran receive more than 1,500 applications every day, followed by Spain, Belgium, and Germany, while the rejection rate exceeded 25% during the same period. The figure was confirmed by the European Union’s Director of Immigration and Home Affairs, who said Algerians were more reluctant to accept a single Schengen visa to enter the European territories”.

Moreover, according to official data that was released by the European Commission, which was seen by Echorouk, Algerians filed 713,255 Schengen visa applications in 2018, of which 384,420 were granted, while 324,291 were rejected, which is a significant percentage.

For its part, the French Interior Ministry counted in its latest report, that granting of 297,104 visas to Algerians in 2018 compared to 413,976 visas in 2017, with a decrease of 28.23%.

In the same report, Algeria was ranked fourth behind China, Russia, and Morocco, after being second after China in 2017, while the number of visas that were granted to Moroccans has already risen from 323,670 in 2017 to 334,016 in 2018, and the French Interior Ministry did not explain the reason of the decline in the number of visas that are granted to Algerians, but it was expected due to the tightening of conditions for granting and enforcing strict Schengen standards.