Spain Issues Record 220,000 Visas to Moroccans in 2018, Surpassing Pre-Pandemic Levels

According to figures from the Office of Diplomatic Information (OID in its Spanish acronym), reported by the EFE agency, Morocco was the third beneficiary in 2018 behind Russia and China, countries with much larger populations. This means, explains EFE, that apart from Sundays and public holidays, Spain issued almost 1,000 visas per day to Moroccans.

Spain and France remain, by far, the countries that grant the most visas to Moroccans. Thus in 2017, France granted 323,670 travel documents while Spain issued 180,910, or 500,000 out of a total of 614,000 granted by all European Union countries.

These figures include 6,000 visas for students, 15,000 for family reunification, and 34,105 for work, including 15,000 Moroccan seasonal workers who come each year for the berry harvest in southern Spain.

Still according to the same source, the consulates of Tangier, Tetouan, Rabat, Nador and Agadir are among those that grant the most Spanish visas and 70% of the total activity of some of them is exclusively dedicated to visa applicants.