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The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has acknowledged that the strict visa policy that the country has implemented in recent years has been a failure and has proven to be disadvantageous.
During the annual conference of the French ambassador held at the Élysée Palace, Macron noted that the current tightened visa policy has many limitations that have penalised “good people”, referring to legitimate applicants, Schengen.News reports.
On the other hand, Macron stressed that the strict visa policy “has not bothered” intermediaries and other fraudulent networks abusing the system.
This, according to Marcon, has led to a damaged reputation for France and has not helped the country to improve its efficiency in processing applications, Le Point explains.
As part of its attempt to remedy the country’s reputation, Macron said that France needs to make reforms to its visa policy so that the country is able to condition and, at the same time, simplify the rules. This means that France is aiming to follow a more intelligent and selective approach.
Conclusions of Macron Come Following a Report
The conclusions of President Macron that the tightening of the visa policy has been a failure come following a report by Paul Hermelin submitted to the Ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs last year.
The report said that the visa refusal rates have increased from 10.7 per cent in 2010 to about 17 per cent in 2023. Moreover, the report stressed that the strict rules have had problematic consequences, especially when it comes to attracting foreign talent.
In addition, the report said that there is a phenomenon of booking appointments and selling them in the black market for a high amount of money.
Taking into account all the problems of the current policy, the report recommends facilitating the rules for target audiences and maintaining rigorous controls for some others by analysing the profiles of applicants rather than having a generalised approach that penalises everyone, including those who do not deserve it.
Le Point notes that Macron has drawn lessons from the report and has announced a reform that would implement the recommendations. However, it is yet to be seen what the reform will include exactly and who will be affected the most.
Source: https://schengen.news/strict-visa-policy-has-penalised-good-people-damaged-frances-reputation-macron-acknowledges/
