Moroccans Face Mounting Hurdles in Schengen Visa Process, Petition Demands Reform

A petition calls for urgent intervention to end the suffering of thousands of Moroccans. The document is on the table of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, the French Ambassador, Hélène Le Gal, and the Spanish Ambassador, Ricardo Diez Rodriguez. Moroccans can no longer stand being humiliated at all levels, just to obtain the Schengen visa.

According to the daily Al Massae, Moroccans are demanding the acceleration of visa issuance procedures. Worse, the petition mentions the long queues in front of the consulate offices that leave no chance for others to be able to file their application. Procrastination, adds the same document, which hinders the vital interests of citizens such as those traveling for health, study or business reasons.

A few months ago, the Ministers of the Interior and Justice of the European Union (EU) had decided to make new changes to the regulations in force regarding the Schengen visa.

But since then, according to the daily, contrary to the expected changes, the consulates of France, Spain and Italy have tightened the conditions for obtaining the Schengen visa. It would have become, according to the petition, a means of blackmail on the part of the EU, a weapon that it manipulates at will in order to impose its diktat on third countries in terms of immigration and readmission of their nationals.