France will resume “normal“ visa procedures for Tunisians starting this September 1st, while its restrictions policy remains for both Algerian and Moroccan applicants.
Paris has decided to normalize the procedure for Tunisians, announced on the evening of August 31, following the visit of Najla Bouden, Head of Government of the Tunisian Republic to France.
The Tunisian and French Ministers of the Interior, Taoufik Charfeddine and Gerald Darmanin had a call meeting, where they discussed “cooperation on migration and mobility and welcomed the good momentum underway,” says a brief joint statement.
“The French Minister of the Interior informed his Tunisian counterpart of the standardization by France, with immediate effect, of the procedures for issuing visas in Tunisia,” read the statement.
The Ministers agreed to repeat a joint evaluation of cooperation on all issues of common interest by the end of the year.
A year has passed since France’s initial decision to halve the visas attributed to Moroccans, Tunisians, and Algerians, due to disagreements on migratory issues.
The decision, which various French officials themselves describe as drastic, has been highly contested. Moroccans in particular have been calling out the “systematic and unjustified“ visa refusals for months now.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) even issued an open letter to the French President and Prime Minister, to voice their “strong condemnation of the recklessness with which the French state consulates in Morocco confront the interests of Moroccan citizens.”
“We find no explanation for this sudden decision except the calculations of your colonial country and the extortion that you exercise on the countries that your armies have previously colonized, in order to pressure them to impose more submission to your military, economic and geostrategic interests,” said the AMDH in its letter.
A number of NGOs have additionally decided to take legal action against some EU states and their consular offices, to halt the clear infringement of Moroccans’ rights to a fair visa procedure.
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