More than 28,000 visas were granted to Senegalese nationals by France, showing that more than 62 per cent of applications filed for a France short-stay visa in 2023 were approved.
The French ambassador to Dakar, Christine Fages, confirmed the news, also revealing that Senegalese citizens filed 46,000 applications for a Schengen visa in the same year. Compared to 2022, there is a 6.7 per cent increase in visa applicants, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
Two-thirds of all applications, representing some 30,000 requests, were made for short-stay visas, while the processing time for these visas stands between two and three weeks.
France Issues Record Number of Study Visas for Senegalese Students
A record number of 5,300 visas were granted to Senegalese students, with this nationality group being the fifth-largest among international students in France.
Falling behind Moroccans, Chinese, Algerians and Italians, Senegalese students have become one of the largest student communities in France – 15,000 in total.
The number of Senegalese students living in France has increased by 62 per cent in five years.
Senegalese Nationals Still Deal With Difficulties to Book a Visa Appointment
Despite the high interest that Senegalese have shown in French visas, they still encounter issues when applying for Schengen visas, especially with booking visa appointments.
Helene De Bock, the Belgian ambassador acknowledged the situation, pointing out they are working on the matter.
We are aware and we are very aware of the difficulties that exist in obtaining an appointment. There are two things that must be distinguished. We must distinguish the question of making an appointment which takes place (via) an external operator and the management of files.
The Ambassador also strongly advised Senegalese not to reach out to intermediary players to request visas. According to her, the monopolisation of these appointments indicates that the deadlines for making appointments last more than two months at times.
Ambassador De Bock further went on to say that nearly 30,000 new residence permits have been issued by the Member States of the European Union to Senegalese nationals.
In 2022, Senegalese filed a total of 56,866 visa applications, with 27,556 of those, representing nearly half, being submitted to French authorities. Spain (9,467) and Belgium (5,009) are also favourite destinations for Senegalese nationals to file visa applications.
Austria, Poland and Greece, on the other hand, have the fewest applications recorded for 2022, between 100 and 305.
