A group of Moroccans in Casablanca have been protesting in the city centre over Schengen visa delays at the Italian embassy.
Expressing their discontent with the current application process and the long waiting times to receive an answer on their application, Casablanca residents have said that the embassy of Italy should take measures as soon as possible, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
As Morocco World News explains, people have been protesting from early in the morning. However, despite their attempts to “pressure” the Italian embassy, the latter has not made an official statement on the matter or said that they will accelerate the processing time.
While Moroccans apply for an Italian visa for different purposes, it has been noted that the majority of those protesting have applied for a work visa. Some of the protesters have said that despite securing a work contract in Italy months ago, they are unable to reach the country and start working as the visa process is taking too long.
Those applying for a tourist visa have also complained of long waiting periods. They said that due to the delays, they had no other choice but to cancel their travel plans.
The Italian embassy is not the only one facing criticism. In October of last year, a group of Moroccans demonstrated outside the office of the EU in Rabat for racist and degrading treatment when applying for Schengen visas, specifically by the French representations in the country.
One of the organisers of the protest accused the Schengen visa-issuing countries of limiting the number of visas issued and rejecting applications for Moroccans despite them meeting all the criteria.
The protesters also criticised the current policies and said that they should receive an explanation on why their visas got rejected.
Schengen Visa Statistics show that a total of 423,201 Schengen visa applications were filed by Moroccan nationals in 2022, meaning that €33.8 million were spent.
However, despite such a high number of applications, only 282,301 requests were approved. Of those approved, 57.4 per cent were multiple entry visas.
On the other hand, 119,346 Schengen visa applications filed by Moroccans were rejected, meaning that around 30 per cent of applications of Moroccan nationals seeking to travel to the Schengen zone have been rejected in 2022.