Since the French government decided to tighten the conditions for granting visas to nationals of Maghreb countries, many Moroccans have been denied the precious sesame.
“This is the first time that I have been refused a visa. Hajar, 32, is angry. Accustomed to going to France to spend her holidays there, this consultant in an international consulting firm submitted an application for a Schengen visa to TLS Contact in Casablanca, a subcontractor of the French consulate in Morocco, in April, without success.
“Even though my file is complete, my application was refused. I am a manager on a permanent contract and all my previous stays in the Schengen area have gone well, what risk do I represent for France? It’s incomprehensible! “, she is indignant with Middle East Eye , denouncing “an obstacle course from making appointments to the response of the consulate”.
Hajar is not the only one to have suffered a refusal after an appointment obtained with forceps.
It has even become the rule since last year, according to numerous testimonies.
“My mother, who has already come to see me in France several times in the past, had two refusals this year. France, my country, deprives me of seeing my mother”, deplores Salma, a 31-year-old Franco-Moroccan who wants to take legal action to understand this refusal which she considers “unworthy of the values of France”.
A misadventure which is reminiscent of that of Hind, who recounted in June on Twitter the experience of his father. The latter failed to obtain a visa to attend his daughter’s graduation ceremony at EM Lyon Business School, despite a solid file accompanied by an invitation from the school.
“How to explain the visa refusal to my father and my brother, invited to my sister’s graduation ceremony, when you justify this by the fact that the reason for the trip is not reliable: false! His only parent, still alive, will miss his ceremony, ” she wrote, directly challenging the French ambassador to Rabat, Hélène Le Gal.
“The procedure has become too complex, obtaining appointments, let’s not even talk about it, without forgetting that this generates significant costs, more than 5,500 dirhams [530 euros]. It is unworthy! It is contrary to your values of equality and fraternity, ”she continues.
After an appeal, the French embassy agreed to re-examine the files, Hind’s father and brother finally obtained a visa.
Does the sanction really target the ruling circles?
It was in September 2021 that the French government decided to tighten the conditions for obtaining visas for Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
For the first two, the number of visas issued is reduced by half, and for Tunisia, by 30% – with 2020 as the reference year.
The reason invoked: was the refusal of the three countries to issue the necessary consular passes for the expulsion of their nationals in an irregular situation.
“The consulates turn off the tap as soon as they see that they have reached the 50% quota set by the government. The other files are systematically rejected. Sometimes, when no reason can justify the refusal, the file is simply postponed.
– A French source in Casablanca
“Our objective is obviously not to weaken economic and cultural exchanges with these countries, which are particularly dense. This is why our consulates will strive to preserve priority audiences [students, businessmen, recipients of talent passports, skilled workers, etc.]. We will primarily target the ruling circles, who are primarily responsible for this situation,” a source from the French Interior Ministry told the Moroccan magazine TelQuel in September.
Except that in fact, the ruling circles are far from being the most targeted by the sanction.
Businessmen, journalists, parents of expatriates or dual nationals, or even tourists are almost systematically refused their visas.
“In the majority of cases, the leaders do not need visas”, points out a Moroccan official on condition of anonymity, referring to the famous “service passports” reserved for diplomats and their families.
Statistics saw bear witness to the impact of the restrictions: French consulates in Morocco issued only 69,408 visas in 2021 compared to 342,262 in 2019, according to a report by the Directorate General for Foreigners in France (DGEF).
For the record, in 2020, a year when Moroccans traveled little due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the kingdom had nevertheless become, according to the same report, the first beneficiary of visas, thus overtaking China and Russia with nearly 98,000 visas issued, i.e. more than 30% compared to 2021.
According to a French source (at the Casablanca consulate) familiar with the matter, “the consulates turn off the tap as soon as they see that they have reached the 50% quota set by the government”.
“The other files are systematically rejected. Sometimes, when no reason can justify the refusal, the file is simply postponed, ”continues the same source.
Rejected by France, more and more Moroccans are now entrusted to go through other countries of the Schengen area, in particular Spain, which has not aligned itself with the sanction of the French authorities against the three Maghreb countries.
“Snub this France that humiliates you”
“I feel this visa refusal as a humiliation. With this sanction, France is shooting itself in the foot, because all the ties it has taken decades to forge with the Moroccan population will gradually be severed,” said Hajar, who also opted for a holiday in Spain.
The term “humiliation” often comes up in the various testimonies. Indignant by the very many refusals of visas, the academic and writer Mokhtar Chaoui thus calls on Moroccans to “snub this France which humiliates [them”.
“France remains sovereign with regard to the granting of visas. She is fully entitled to refuse this one and accept that one. What I don’t understand is the attitude of Moroccans who are whining because mama France [Maman France] didn’t want them,” writes the teacher-researcher at the University of Tetouan in a publication. (North).
“France is shooting itself in the foot because all the ties it has taken decades to forge with the Moroccan population will gradually be broken”
– Hajar, consultant
“Send her [France] sh*** and go spend your holidays elsewhere. The world is big and other countries are more welcoming and cheaper,” he suggests.
Same echo from the Moroccan news site Quid.ma : “There are many Moroccans who used to seek treatment in France and who can no longer get a visa to go see their doctors in France. . By not taking into account their distress, France adds to the gratuitous provocation and wicked humiliation this deliberately inhuman side. Is France in the process of removing the word “fraternity” from the pediments of its public buildings? »
According to several sources, no progress has been made so far in the negotiations between the two countries with a view to lifting the restrictions.
In September, the Moroccan Foreign Minister regretted an “unjustified decision”.
“France’s decision is sovereign, but the reasons justifying it require precision and debate because they do not reflect the reality of consular cooperation between the two countries in the fight against illegal immigration,” he said.
