EU Imposes Restrictions on Issuance of Visas for Ethiopians

The Council of the European Union EU today announced restrictions on issuance of visas to Ethiopians. The council in a statement said that it had decided “to temporarily suspend certain elements of the EU law that regulates the issuing of visas to Ethiopian nationals.”

EU and Ethiopia have been in talks about repatriation of Ethiopian migrants living illegally in Europe. But the two sides could not reach an agreement.

“These assessments may lead to the conclusion that a given third country does not cooperate sufficiently. In such cases, the EU may decide to suspend the application of certain provisions of the visa code,” the Council said.

EU headquarters explained today that the 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 now have to pay for travel visas.

Ethiopia is repatriating thousands of its nationals from Saudi Arabia. Earlier this month, a senior Ethiopian delegation visited KSA. After talks in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia launched a flight operation to repatriate its citizens. Hundreds have been brought back home this month.

European Union and UK have been trying to curb the flow of illegal migrants from Africa. EU officials have been frustrated due to lack of tangible co operation from Ethiopia for repatriating Ethiopian illegal migrants.

“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.

Apart from thousands of Ethiopians who embark on a perilous journey to reach Europe, thousands of migrants from Eritrea and Somalia enter Ethiopia annually to cross into Sudan for onward journey towards Europe.

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