The EU Council of Ministers announced today that visa regulations for Somali citizens will be tightened temporarily. The decision comes after the European Commission found in a new assessment that the Somali state does not sufficiently cooperate with the union regarding the return of its own citizens who do not have the right to remain in the EU.
The decision means that several facilitations in the visa process are now being removed.
Among other things, member states will no longer be able to issue multi-entry visas to Somali citizens. The requirements for which documents must be submitted with a visa application are also being tightened, while the possibility of waiving the visa fee for holders of diplomatic and service passports is being removed.
But it doesn’t end there. The processing time for applications is also increasing significantly—from the current 15 calendar days to 45.
The EU states that the measure is temporary, but no end date has been specified. The aim is to put pressure on the Somali state to improve cooperation on the return of people who have been denied asylum or are otherwise residing illegally in the union.
The decision marks yet another example of how the union uses migration policy to pressure countries to take greater responsibility for their own citizens when they lack the right to remain in Europe.