The Secretary of State for Senegalese Abroad, Amadou Cherif Diouf, has met the Consul General of France, Nathelie Node, to address the difficulties that Senegalese encounter when applying for a France Schengen visa.
According to Chief Diouf, Node has confirmed that they are doing everything they can to improve visa processing. She also said that student visas are being processed first in order to later commit to processing short-stay visas, Schengen.News reports.
According to a press release by the Secretary, the main things that were discussed during the meeting were related to student visa applications – which are the most popular among Senegalese nationals.
A total of 5,300 visas were granted to Senegalese students, making this nationality group the fifth-largest in France. During the same period, the number of visas for Senegalese students reached a high record.
Moroccans, Chinese, Algerians and Italians are the top visa applications, with Senegalese students following closely. This community of students has emerged as one of the largest student communities in France with 15,000 Senegalese students being enrolled at French universities.
According to statistics by Schengen Visa Info, France receives the highest number of visa applications from Senegal. In 2023, a total of 64,392 visa applications were filed by Senegalese.
A total of 29,607 are directed to France, which accounts for 45.97 per cent of all applications. The approval rate for Senegalese applicants was 65.8 per cent, which means that more than half of the applicants were granted a visa.
The share of MEVs, which are multiple entry visas, was 25.7 per cent, indicating that a quarter of all visas approved were multiple entry.
The second country with the most visa applications received was Spain (8,355), Italy (7,022) and Belgium (5,286), closely followed by the Netherlands (5,090).
Source: https://schengen.news/french-embassy-in-senegal-committed-to-improve-schengen-visa-processing/
