The ambassadors of fifteen European Union member countries in Senegal met on Wednesday May 8 to take stock of cooperation with Senegal on the occasion of Europe Day on May 9. It is difficult for many Senegalese to obtain a Schengen visa, but above all to first obtain an appointment to apply for these keys.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Dakar, Juliette Dubois
According to Christine Fages, French ambassador to Senegalthe figures for the number of visas granted for France are increasing and deadlines are respected, despite criticism from certain Senegalese nationals: “ The French consulate general processed 43,000 files in 2022 and 46,000 in 2023, two thirds for short-stay Schengen visas, one third for long-stay visas. The acceptance rate for short-stay Schengen visas is over 62% and the processing time for short-stay visas is two weeks. »
The problem often arises upstream, to make the visa application appointment. According to the chancelleries, the concern comes from intermediaries who monopolize these appointments for resale. The Belgian ambassador, Hélène de Bock, denounces what she calls “ pharmacy », that is to say intermediaries who offer the resale of appointments at a high price, as well as help in putting together files. Cynical and counterproductive practices according to her: “ It is in fact the monopolization of appointments by this type of pharmacies which means that there are delays which last one month, two months, three months… Going through a pharmacy offers no guarantee additional acceptance of the file. I would even go so far as to say that very often we have opposite experiences, where in fact the files that we receive via pharmacies are often incomplete and also include documents that are false. »
Hélène de Bock promises that embassies will take measures to try to fight against these visa appointment traffickers.