According to family members of Gambian applicants living in Europe who approached this correspondent, even though the fee is reduced from €120 to the standard visa application fee of €80, the “rejection rate remains too high”.
Currently, relatives of two Gambian applicants in Germany and The Netherlands said their family members who recently applied for visas were "rejected even though all the requirements had been fulfilled".
Due to the rule of keeping confidential information about the applicants, they cannot be named, however, both mentioned refusal based on the ground of “mere probability or suspicion”.
But since the bickering between the two allies mainly as a result of the alleged failure to accept Gambian repatriated migrants from Europe, the EU thus decided to impose stringent measures against Banjul to that effect.
Also prior to the visa fee issues, the EU took drastic measures against Gambian applicants and further suspended the possibility for Member States to “waive requirements” for documents that need to be submitted.
In addition, Gambian applicants also endured lengthier waiting times when the EU deferred the issuance of multiple entry visas to applicants and thus suspended the “limitation” to process applications within 15 days.
Consequently, the rejection rate had shocking effect against Gambians and in 2022, the country obtained the highest rejection rate of any country featuring in the Commission's annual cooperation report.
Responding an EU official said: “I cannot elaborate on any specific case, however visa demands can be approved or rejected … depending on the criteria that Schengen members have as well as the applicant fulfilling all the requirements…”
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