April 29, 2024
The Council of the European Union has decided to impose temporary restrictions on visa provisions for nationals of Ethiopia.
The decision of the Council to tighten the Schengen visa rules for passport holders of Ethiopia is a response to concerns over the country’s insufficient cooperation regarding the readmission of its nationals staying irregularly in the EU, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
Effective immediately, some elements of the EU law regulating the issuance of Schengen visas to nationals of Ethiopia have been suspended.
In line with the new rules, Schengen member states are no longer authorised to waive requirements related to the evidence documents that Ethiopian visa applicants need to submit. This means that Ethiopians must submit all the required documents without any exemption.
In addition, the Council has prohibited the member states from issuing multiple-entry visas to Ethiopians.
Passport holders of Ethiopia applying for Schengen visas will now be issued only single-entry visas, which become invalid as soon as the holders exit the Schengen Area.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the Council has also restricted waiving the visa fee for diplomatic and service passport holders, meaning that this group of people will now also have to pay a fee when applying for Schengen visas.
The same authority has also extended the standard visa-processing period for Ethiopian Schengen visa applicants to 45 calendar days, up from the previous 15 days.
Ethiopia Has Failed to Cooperate in Readmission of Its Nationals Effectively, Council Said
Explaining the reason behind this decision, the Council of the EU said that Ethiopia has failed to cooperate with the readmission of its nationals staying in the bloc without proper documentation.
This decision follows an assessment by the Commission, which concludes that cooperation by Ethiopia in the field of readmission of its nationals illegally staying in the EU is insufficient.Council of the EU
The Council further stressed that the Ethiopian authorities had shown a lack of responsiveness to readmission requests and, at the same time, said that challenges persist regarding the issuance of emergency travel documents and the organisation of voluntary and non-voluntary return operations.
The suspension decision is temporary, but there is no specific end date. In the meantime, the Commission will continue to monitor Ethiopia’s progress in readmission cooperation.