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Updated September 30th, 2021 at 11:38 IST

Algeria summons French envoy to ‘formal protest’ over visa spat involving Morocco, Tunisia

Starting in a few weeks, France has decided to slash visas allowed to nationals hailing from Atlas Lands of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Reported by: Dipaneeta Das
France
Image: AP | Image:self
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Starting in a few weeks, France has decided to slash visas allowed to nationals hailing from Atlas Lands of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The decision, as expected, was not welcomed by the North African counterparts. The Algerian authorities summoned the French ambassador Francois Goyette 'to notify him of a formal protest following the unilateral decision of the French Government," BBC reported. As a protest, Algerian Foreign Minister Amar Belani also dubbed the move as 'disproportionate.' His call was echoed by Morrocan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, who called Paris' pledge "unjustified" adding that "his country has always acted responsibly on the issue of illegal migration."

The decision came amidst the fray between the French government and the North African nations over the latter's refusal to grant consular passes to accept some of their own nationals. The announcement made by France's government spokesperson Gabriel Attal has drawn much angst from the citizens of the countries mentioned above and their respective admins.

France slashes visa allotment for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia

On September 28, President of France, Emmanuel Macron announced the federal decision to slash the visa allotment by half for Algerian and Morrocan nationals, and 30% for Tunisians. According to French Foreign Minister Attal, as told to the Europel Radio, the "drastic" and "unprecedented" decision was deemed necessary to counter the North African nations' failure to comply with the migration policies. France accused the three countries of diverting acceptance of nationals who were expelled from France for "committing crimes or lack of resident permit."

“We are going to reduce the number of visas very significantly,” France24 quoted Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin as saying on Wednesday in Paris.

While it is widely expected that the immigration fray will remain a strong agenda in the upcoming election campaigns for the Presidential polls scheduled to be held in April 2022, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, while addressing a presser on the same, asserted that it has nothing to do with it, France24 reported. According to BBC, citing French national media, despite 7,731 visa refusals, only 22 Algerians were ousted from France in the first six months of 2021. For Morocco, only 80 were expelled out of the 3,301 visa dismissals. Lastly, for Tunisia, out of the 3,424 failed applications, about 131 were evicted.

Image: AP

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Published September 30th, 2021 at 11:38 IST

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