Ethiopia Criticizes EU for New Visa Restrictions

In a strong statement today, the Ethiopian Embassy in Brussels expressed dismay at the EU council’s decision to impose restrictions on the issuance of visas to Ethiopians.

This week the Council of the European Union announced that time it takes to process visas for Ethiopian nationals will triple from 15 to 45 days. EU countries will no longer be permitted to waive requirements for certain paperwork or issue multiple-entry visas. Ethiopian diplomats and officials will have to pay for travel visas.

“This decision follows an assessment by the Commission, which concludes that cooperation by Ethiopia in the field of readmission of its nationals illegally staying in the EU is insufficient. There is a lack of response from the Ethiopian authorities with regard to readmission requests and difficulties persist with the issuance of emergency travel documents and with the organization of both voluntary and non-voluntary return operations”, the EU council said.

The Embassy of Ethiopia in Brussels expressed disappointment by issuing a statement and asking for a reconsideration of the decision.

“The Council’s decision does not take into consideration the strong cooperation between Ethiopia and the European Union that has helped in returning and reintegrating Ethiopian nationals. The decision fails to take into consideration the painstaking process that takes place to establish the identities of nationalities,” it said.

These stricter rules are part of the strategy of the EU to handle irregular immigration. The EU recently approved changes to its asylum and migration rules. The EU will implement these changes starting in 2026. These changes aim to toughen border controls and expedite the return of migrants who do not qualify for asylum.

The EU has also made visa rules stricter for the Gambia. Moreover, the EU Council has said that how the EU applies visa rules to countries depends on how well those countries work with the EU to take back migrants.

Last September, the EU Council noted that in 2020 and 2021, Ethiopia only accepted back 10% of its citizens who were supposed to return.

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