Schengen Visa Crunch: Moroccans Struggle to Secure European Travel Permits

"I spent several weeks connecting at least three times a day to the BLS Contact website (the company managing the scheduling of appointments and the transmission of files to the various Spanish consulates in Morocco, editor’s note) to find an available appointment, in vain," confides to SNRTNEWS a sexagenarian used to going to Malaga to see his children. "On the evening of a Moroccan national football team match, a friend called me to tell me that appointments were available. I connected the minute, everything was already taken!" he laments. He then tried to use the services of an intermediary but ended up giving up: "The intermediary asks for a sum of 800 dirhams per person. In addition, I have to send him photos of my bank card so that he can use it to pay the BLS service fees, before getting the appointment confirmation. I finally gave up."

An internet user, on the other hand, carried out the procedures in advance to optimize his chances of getting the appointment and then the visa. "I was able to get an appointment in October 2021 and a two-year visa was granted to me in December, just a few days before the borders were closed due to the Omicron wave. I said to myself, better to keep my visa aside than to struggle as summer approaches," he rejoices. He nevertheless confirms the difficulty of making an appointment. "I don’t say that getting an appointment was easy. It took me several attempts, and a 5am wake-up call to be able to get a premium appointment, which costs 300 dirhams more than the standard appointment for the same service. You then have to wait more than a month and a half to get your passport back. The processing time is very long."

Moroccans turning to France are facing almost the same difficulties. The only difference: it is much easier to get an appointment with TLS Contact, the service that manages, among other things, the management of residence permit application files in the Hexagon. Obtaining the visa remains the big difficulty. "I have a much more stable situation, a solid bank account, a good position in a company, and yet the refusal is justified by my inability to meet the conditions. I used to get visas when I was still freshly graduated," confides a young thirty-something, used to spending all her vacations in France, who was denied a visa in April 2022.