“Because of a lack of cooperation of The Gambia as regards readmission of its nationals illegally staying in the EU, the Council had decided in December 2022 to increase the standard application fee for nationals of The Gambia to €120,” it states in a statement. “Since then, The Gambia has substantially and sustainably improved its cooperation on readmission as regards the organisation of return flights and operations.”
Background
“The EU visa code of 2019 introduced a mechanism which makes it possible to use visa processing as leverage in the EUs cooperation with third countries on readmissions.”
“Because of a lack of cooperation on readmission, the EU decided in 2021 to temporarily suspend for nationals of The Gambia:
The possibility that member states waive requirements with regard to the documents to be submitted by Gambian visa: the islang or rutipe only is period to 15 calendar days; the optional visa fee waiver for holders of diplomatic and service passports.”
“In a second step, because cooperation on readmissions had not improved, the EU increased in December 2022 the visa fee. This second decision has now been repealed.”
