French Embassy Defends Non-Refundable Schengen Visa Fees to Moroccan Consumer Group

In response to the letter from the president of the FMDC, Bouazza Kherrati, who in August requested his intervention with the French consulates in Morocco for the reimbursement of visa application fees that were not issued, the French Embassy in Rabat specified in a letter dated September 19 that "visa fees are not refunded in case of rejection of the application," in accordance with the laws in force in France and in all Schengen area countries.

The visa application fees are not refundable for organizational and technical reasons, the French diplomat added in the letter reported by Hespress, stressing that applicants are informed in advance that these fees are dedicated to payments to the service provider (TLS) and taxes.

The embassy also recalled that nearly 150,000 visa applications were processed by the French consular services in Morocco between January and June 2022, describing as "imaginary" the rejection rates mentioned by some media and on social networks. It also assures the protection of the personal data of visa applicants by the TLS service provider, which processes them in accordance with European data protection law No. 2016/679 of April 27, 2016.