The 2024 Paris Olympic Games services and relations manager, Alejandro Recalde, has said that athletes and officials will not be required to apply for a French Schengen visa to attend the event, provided that they hold another multiple-entry Schengen visa.
Such a statement from Recalde was made during the 40th ANOCA Secretaries General Seminar in Mombasa, Kenya, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
As Nation Africa explains, Recalde also said during his address at the seminar that they will still require accreditation for the games by each country.
It is believed that the plans not to require the participants to apply for a specific visa based on their purpose of travel, in this case, a Schengen Visa for Sports Event, have been put into the table, taking into account that the authorities already have the information of all those who have already obtained a visa.
The biodata for those with Schengen visas are with the countries that permit the multi-entry process. Hence, no more details will be required unless otherwise.
While such news has brought comfort to many participants, the case is not the same for those from other countries such as Mali and South Sudan.
These two countries have no French embassies in their territories and have already started expressing their concerns about obtaining visas and fear of being locked out of the games due to this requirement.
South Sudan National Olympic Committee Secretary General Tong Chor Male Deran said that they had missed several “chef de mission meetings” in France due to the lack of visas, Nation Africa explains.
The same said that they went all the way to the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, to apply for a French visa just to have their applications denied.
Mali National Olympic Committee Secretary General Habib Sissoko also expressed his concern on the matter, saying that they “have nowhere to go for application since the French embassy closed.”
In addition to the above-mentioned, countries with cyclists who have already qualified for the Paris Olympics won’t be allowed to be accompanied by their drivers, as Recalde said that only those with an EU licence are allowed to drive in the country.
As for countries who are facing challenges in obtaining visas to attend the event, Recalde said that they will address the matter and will make sure that everyone is able to enter the country just in time.
The 2024 Paris Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, 2023. Recalde said that the tickets for the majority of events are almost sold out, and the same noted that nearly 300 million people have applied as volunteers.