Ethiopia ‘dismayed’ at tougher EU visa regime

Ethiopia on Tuesday (30 April) said it was dismayed by an EU decision to impose a tougher visa process on the African country.

The EU on Monday said it was taking the measure because of Ethiopia’s “insufficient” cooperation in taking back rejected asylum-seekers and irregular migrants.

The move means Ethiopians will no longer be given leeway on the sort of documentation they provide to meet requirements for EU visits.

They can no longer obtain multiple-entry visas, diplomats will now have to pay to get visas, and the processing time for standard EU visas has been extended to 45 days from the current 15.

On Tuesday, Ethiopia’s embassy in Brussels said it was “dismayed” by the decision and has requested it be reconsidered.

“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,” it said.

“The decision fails to take into consideration the painstaking process that takes place to establish the identities of nationalities,” it said.

The stricter rules are part of the European Union’s carrot-and-stick approach to managing irregular immigration.

The bloc this month adopted a reform of its asylum and migration rules, which come into effect from 2026 and aim to harden border procedures and speed up returns of irregular migrants ineligible for asylum.

The EU has already imposed similar tougher visa processes on Gambia.

The Council of the EU has underlined that the way EU visa rules are applied to countries hinges on how those countries cooperate in taking back migrants.

Last September, it noted that Ethiopia accepted back just 10% of its nationals flagged for return in 2020 and 2021.

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