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Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
What Trump's travel ban is really intended to achieve
Donald Trump's decision to bar the citizens of a dozen countries from entering the United States is his most sweeping visa ban yet. By casting his net wider than ever, the US president is ostensibly protecting Americans from foreigners who pose a threat to homeland security. Countries that do not properly vet their citizens or whose nationals overstay their visas were selected for outright bans, while seven other states were subjected to restrictions that would prevent as many as 90 per cent of their nationals from visiting the US. The move is a resurrection of a policy from his first term, but Mr Trump has considerably broadened his scope, imposing a much wider, if less draconian, set of measures — one that reflects a desire to overcome future legal challenges while pacifying his supporters. His 2017 executive order, which went through several iterations, saw a ban on travellers from seven nations with large Muslim majorities, earning adulation from his supporters. By contrast, just eight of the 19 countries hit by outright or partial bans under his latest edict have Muslim majorities. Mr Trump's tour of the Middle East last month, during which he cemented friendships with a string of rich Gulf potentates, may be a factor. More likely, though, the US president is simply being more strategic than in his first term. By taking aim at non-Muslim states alongside the usual suspects in the Middle East and Horn of Africa, he is making the legal challenges he faced the first time around less likely to succeed. The White House has been careful to justify its choice of targets, saying the countries listed pose security threats either because their nationals tend to overstay visas or because they have a significant 'terrorist presence'. With an eye on the courts, Mr Trump has also carved out exemptions even for states facing an outright ban: Afghans who worked with the US military, or persecuted minorities in Iran will, in theory, still be allowed in. This will allow Mr Trump to claim a significant victory on an issue important not just to his base, but beyond. Securing US borders is a central plank of his America First ideology. The visa ban is one element of this strategy, complementing a range of steps on immigration — from raids to detain migrants, to mass deportations and restrictions on international students. The ban will have real consequences. Last year, the State Department issued 170,000 visas to the citizens of countries facing an outright ban. The list of affected countries is far broader geographically than in Mr Trump's first term, with nine drawn from sub-Saharan Africa, three from the Americas, three from the Middle East and four from elsewhere in Asia. Of the countries reprieved this time, two offer an instructive insight into Mr Trump's shifting geopolitical priorities. North Korea and Syria omitted from list North Korea, added to the initial list later in 2017, is the first omission. In his first term, Mr Trump expended significant diplomatic capital in a fruitless quest to force Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear arsenal. North Korea's inclusion may have been part of a pressure campaign designed to force concessions. That having failed, there is little value now in a symbolic measure like a visa ban. Very few North Koreans ever come to the United States, after all. The second is Syria, one of the main targets of the first ban because of the flood of refugees fleeing its civil war during Mr Trump's first term. But the war is over, the dictator Bashar al-Assad has been toppled and the White House has taken significant steps – over the objections of Israel but to the delight of most Arab states – to end Syria's isolation. Russia was floated as ban candidate Laying aside concerns about the new Syrian government's jihadi past, Mr Trump met President Ahmed al-Sharaa during his Middle East tour and announced an end to US sanctions on Damascus. Syria's exemption from the ban is further evidence of its accelerating rehabilitation. Other countries have remained on the banned list for more obvious reasons. Libya, Somalia and Yemen are all conflict-ridden with a large jihadi presence. In other cases, diplomatic factors may be at play. Iran has been included again – presumably to increase diplomatic pressure for a nuclear deal. Removing it from the list could be an inducement the Trump administration hopes to dangle to extract concessions from Tehran. Russia was floated in March as a possible candidate but avoided the final list – despite the threat posed by Russian sleeper operatives in the US. But Mr Trump, whose affinity with Moscow is well known, has no wish to alienate Vladimir Putin while he hopes for a peace deal with Ukraine. Including Russia would also have triggered pushback from Moscow's allies on the American right. The most puzzling entries are some of the countries whose citizens are facing a ban for the first time. Chad, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo – not to be confused with its larger neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is in talks with Washington over a critical minerals deal – are hardly obvious candidates for Mr Trump's ire. The three may not have cooperated sufficiently in accepting nationals deported from the US but none poses a more serious security threat than nearby states. Chad's neighbours in the African Sahel – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – are military dictatorships that have lost swathes of territory to jihadist groups, but escaped without a visa ban. Immediate answers are not obvious. But it is worth remembering that decision-making in the Trump administration can be arbitrary. Under the 'Liberation Day' tariffs announced in April – and later suspended – countries were hit with different rates based on rudimentary trade calculations. It is possible that some of the African states now on the visa ban list have suffered a similar fate. They may also serve to camouflage accusations of anti-Muslim bias. And as low-profile countries unfamiliar to most Americans, the risk of diplomatic blowback is small.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Africans lost nearly $70M to denied visas applications to Europe in 2024
When Joel Anyaegbu's application for a Schengen visa to travel to Barcelona was denied late last year, he was surprised but immediately reapplied. He sent in more documents than were required, including bank statements and proof of property ownership in Nigeria. He was rejected again. 'The information submitted regarding the justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay were not reliable,' read a checklist returned with his passport from the Spanish consulate in Lagos. The 32-year-old gaming consultant said he felt humiliated. 'I had to cancel meetings with partners at the conference I was attending,' he told CNN. 'I emailed the embassy to understand why I was denied but it has not been answered to date.' Anyaegbu's was among the 50,376 short-stay Schengen visa applications rejected in Nigeria last year, nearly half of all submissions, according to newly released data from the European Commission. Applicants worldwide pay a non-refundable visa fee of 90 euros (about $100), so Nigerians alone lost over 4.5 million euros (about $5 million) seeking permission to travel to the 29 European countries that make up the Schengen Area. In total, African countries lost 60 million euros ($67.5 million) in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024, analysis from the LAGO Collective shows. The London-based research and arts organization has been monitoring data on European short-term visas since 2022 and says Africa is the continent worst affected by the cost of visa rejections. 'The poorest countries in the world pay the richest countries in the world money for not getting visas,' its founder Marta Foresti told CNN. 'As in 2023, the poorer the country of application, the higher the rejection rates. African countries are disproportionately affected with rejection rates as high as 40-50% for countries like Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria.' She says this proves 'inbuilt discrimination and bias' in the process. A European Commission spokesperson told CNN that member states consider visa applications on a case-by-case basis. 'Each file is assessed by experienced decision-makers on its own merits, in particular regarding the purpose of stay, sufficient means of subsistence, and the applicants' will to return to their country of residence after a visit to the EU,' the spokesperson said via email. Africans have long complained about inconsistent, sometimes baffling decisions about who gets approved or denied while applying for European visas. Cameroonian Jean Mboulé was born in France but when he applied for a visa in 2022 alongside his wife using similar documents, his application was rejected but hers was not. 'At the time she was unemployed but with a South African passport. She had no income but received a visa on the back of my financial statement,' he told CNN. 'But the embassy said they refused my application because my documents were fake, and they weren't sure I would come back to South Africa, where I am a permanent resident, if I went to France.' The 39-year-old regional executive took legal action in French courts and won, forcing the French embassy in Johannesburg to grant his visa and pay him a fine of 1,200 euros. He told an administrative tribunal in the French city of Nantes that the embassy's decision to deny him a visa was 'tainted by insufficient reasoning.' Mboulé pointed out that he had provided sufficient guarantees that he would return at the end of his trip to his wife and daughter in South Africa where he owns a building. After he got the visa, he chose to go to Mauritius instead as he didn't want to spend his money in France. The Cameroonian's case is unique as many Africans denied Schengen visas rarely appeal or contest the decisions in court. Like Anyaegbu, the Nigerian gaming consultant, they often reapply, losing more money in the process. Mboulé has travelled several times to the UK and other African countries but was still denied twice for Schengen. 'The financial cost of rejected visas is just staggering; you can think of them as 'reverse remittances,' money flowing from poor to rich countries, which we never hear about,' the LAGO Collective's Foresti says. Schengen visa fees increased from 80 to 90 euros in July 2024, making it even more expensive for the world's poorest applicants. But South African management lecturer Sikhumbuzo Maisela said the visa rejection rates for Africans were lower than he expected. 'The visa vetting process seems to be shaped less by outright prejudice and more by historical patterns of behaviour,' he told CNN via email. 'Western countries have had instances where visa holders overstayed or violated terms, and this has influenced how future applications are scrutinized.' Though he hasn't conducted formal academic research on the issue, Maisela said Africans should treat visas as an act of trust and hospitality, and observe the rules. 'When one person violates these principles, it impacts all of us,' he said. 'It makes it harder for the next applicant — someone who may be fully compliant — to be granted the same opportunity. So, in a way, those who break the rules contribute to the very discrimination others face.' Younger Africans are the most vocal about visa rejections online but older applicants face similar barriers. Julius Musimeenta, a 57-year-old Ugandan engineer, applied for a visa to attend an engineering fair in Munich last year with his family. All six of them were rejected even though they had all previously traveled to Europe. 'Africans contribute a lot to funding these embassies through these rejections. They always think negatively about us travelling to their countries,' he told CNN. He has three grown-up children who are also engineers and the entire family has a long history of international travel so they were surprised by the blanket denial, he says. The European Commission said it does not comment on individual cases but EU law allows visa applicants to appeal negative decisions if they feel that the refusal was unjustified. 'The reasons for refusals vary, and include for example the submission of false or forged supporting documents such as bank statements or civil status documents, and weak socio-economic ties to the country of residence and hence a heightened risk of irregular migration,' it said. While Schengen visa rejections get the most attention due to the large number of countries, African applicants to the UK complain of similar access challenges. UK visa fees rose from £100 to £115 in July 2024 ($134 to $154) and then to £127 ($170) in April this year. There was a 13.5% spike in the cost of rejected visas to £50.7 million ($68.8 million) in 2024, the LAGO Collective estimates. Nigerians alone paid an extra £2 million trying to travel to their former colonial master, according to its calculations.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Africans lost nearly $70M to denied visas applications to Europe in 2024
When Joel Anyaegbu's application for a Schengen visa to travel to Barcelona was denied late last year, he was surprised but immediately reapplied. He sent in more documents than were required, including bank statements and proof of property ownership in Nigeria. He was rejected again. 'The information submitted regarding the justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay were not reliable,' read a checklist returned with his passport from the Spanish consulate in Lagos. The 32-year-old gaming consultant said he felt humiliated. 'I had to cancel meetings with partners at the conference I was attending,' he told CNN. 'I emailed the embassy to understand why I was denied but it has not been answered to date.' Anyaegbu's was among the 50,376 short-stay Schengen visa applications rejected in Nigeria last year, nearly half of all submissions, according to newly released data from the European Commission. Applicants worldwide pay a non-refundable visa fee of 90 euros (about $100), so Nigerians alone lost over 4.5 million euros (about $5 million) seeking permission to travel to the 29 European countries that make up the Schengen Area. In total, African countries lost 60 million euros ($67.5 million) in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024, analysis from the LAGO Collective shows. The London-based research and arts organization has been monitoring data on European short-term visas since 2022 and says Africa is the continent worst affected by the cost of visa rejections. 'The poorest countries in the world pay the richest countries in the world money for not getting visas,' its founder Marta Foresti told CNN. 'As in 2023, the poorer the country of application, the higher the rejection rates. African countries are disproportionately affected with rejection rates as high as 40-50% for countries like Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria.' She says this proves 'inbuilt discrimination and bias' in the process. A European Commission spokesperson told CNN that member states consider visa applications on a case-by-case basis. 'Each file is assessed by experienced decision-makers on its own merits, in particular regarding the purpose of stay, sufficient means of subsistence, and the applicants' will to return to their country of residence after a visit to the EU,' the spokesperson said via email. Africans have long complained about inconsistent, sometimes baffling decisions about who gets approved or denied while applying for European visas. Cameroonian Jean Mboulé was born in France but when he applied for a visa in 2022 alongside his wife using similar documents, his application was rejected but hers was not. 'At the time she was unemployed but with a South African passport. She had no income but received a visa on the back of my financial statement,' he told CNN. 'But the embassy said they refused my application because my documents were fake, and they weren't sure I would come back to South Africa, where I am a permanent resident, if I went to France.' The 39-year-old regional executive took legal action in French courts and won, forcing the French embassy in Johannesburg to grant his visa and pay him a fine of 1,200 euros. He told an administrative tribunal in the French city of Nantes that the embassy's decision to deny him a visa was 'tainted by insufficient reasoning.' Mboulé pointed out that he had provided sufficient guarantees that he would return at the end of his trip to his wife and daughter in South Africa where he owns a building. After he got the visa, he chose to go to Mauritius instead as he didn't want to spend his money in France. The Cameroonian's case is unique as many Africans denied Schengen visas rarely appeal or contest the decisions in court. Like Anyaegbu, the Nigerian gaming consultant, they often reapply, losing more money in the process. Mboulé has travelled several times to the UK and other African countries but was still denied twice for Schengen. 'The financial cost of rejected visas is just staggering; you can think of them as 'reverse remittances,' money flowing from poor to rich countries, which we never hear about,' the LAGO Collective's Foresti says. Schengen visa fees increased from 80 to 90 euros in July 2024, making it even more expensive for the world's poorest applicants. But South African management lecturer Sikhumbuzo Maisela said the visa rejection rates for Africans were lower than he expected. 'The visa vetting process seems to be shaped less by outright prejudice and more by historical patterns of behaviour,' he told CNN via email. 'Western countries have had instances where visa holders overstayed or violated terms, and this has influenced how future applications are scrutinized.' Though he hasn't conducted formal academic research on the issue, Maisela said Africans should treat visas as an act of trust and hospitality, and observe the rules. 'When one person violates these principles, it impacts all of us,' he said. 'It makes it harder for the next applicant — someone who may be fully compliant — to be granted the same opportunity. So, in a way, those who break the rules contribute to the very discrimination others face.' Younger Africans are the most vocal about visa rejections online but older applicants face similar barriers. Julius Musimeenta, a 57-year-old Ugandan engineer, applied for a visa to attend an engineering fair in Munich last year with his family. All six of them were rejected even though they had all previously traveled to Europe. 'Africans contribute a lot to funding these embassies through these rejections. They always think negatively about us travelling to their countries,' he told CNN. He has three grown-up children who are also engineers and the entire family has a long history of international travel so they were surprised by the blanket denial, he says. The European Commission said it does not comment on individual cases but EU law allows visa applicants to appeal negative decisions if they feel that the refusal was unjustified. 'The reasons for refusals vary, and include for example the submission of false or forged supporting documents such as bank statements or civil status documents, and weak socio-economic ties to the country of residence and hence a heightened risk of irregular migration,' it said. While Schengen visa rejections get the most attention due to the large number of countries, African applicants to the UK complain of similar access challenges. UK visa fees rose from £100 to £115 in July 2024 ($134 to $154) and then to £127 ($170) in April this year. There was a 13.5% spike in the cost of rejected visas to £50.7 million ($68.8 million) in 2024, the LAGO Collective estimates. Nigerians alone paid an extra £2 million trying to travel to their former colonial master, according to its calculations.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Africans lost nearly $70M to denied visas applications to Europe in 2024
When Joel Anyaegbu's application for a Schengen visa to travel to Barcelona was denied late last year, he was surprised but immediately reapplied. He sent in more documents than were required, including bank statements and proof of property ownership in Nigeria. He was rejected again. 'The information submitted regarding the justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay were not reliable,' read a checklist returned with his passport from the Spanish consulate in Lagos. The 32-year-old gaming consultant said he felt humiliated. 'I had to cancel meetings with partners at the conference I was attending,' he told CNN. 'I emailed the embassy to understand why I was denied but it has not been answered to date.' Anyaegbu's was among the 50,376 short-stay Schengen visa applications rejected in Nigeria last year, nearly half of all submissions, according to newly released data from the European Commission. Applicants worldwide pay a non-refundable visa fee of 90 euros (about $100), so Nigerians alone lost over 4.5 million euros (about $5 million) seeking permission to travel to the 29 European countries that make up the Schengen Area. In total, African countries lost 60 million euros ($67.5 million) in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024, analysis from the LAGO Collective shows. The London-based research and arts organization has been monitoring data on European short-term visas since 2022 and says Africa is the continent worst affected by the cost of visa rejections. 'The poorest countries in the world pay the richest countries in the world money for not getting visas,' its founder Marta Foresti told CNN. 'As in 2023, the poorer the country of application, the higher the rejection rates. African countries are disproportionately affected with rejection rates as high as 40-50% for countries like Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria.' She says this proves 'inbuilt discrimination and bias' in the process. A European Commission spokesperson told CNN that member states consider visa applications on a case-by-case basis. 'Each file is assessed by experienced decision-makers on its own merits, in particular regarding the purpose of stay, sufficient means of subsistence, and the applicants' will to return to their country of residence after a visit to the EU,' the spokesperson said via email. Africans have long complained about inconsistent, sometimes baffling decisions about who gets approved or denied while applying for European visas. Cameroonian Jean Mboulé was born in France but when he applied for a visa in 2022 alongside his wife using similar documents, his application was rejected but hers was not. 'At the time she was unemployed but with a South African passport. She had no income but received a visa on the back of my financial statement,' he told CNN. 'But the embassy said they refused my application because my documents were fake, and they weren't sure I would come back to South Africa, where I am a permanent resident, if I went to France.' The 39-year-old regional executive took legal action in French courts and won, forcing the French embassy in Johannesburg to grant his visa and pay him a fine of 1,200 euros. He told an administrative tribunal in the French city of Nantes that the embassy's decision to deny him a visa was 'tainted by insufficient reasoning.' Mboulé pointed out that he had provided sufficient guarantees that he would return at the end of his trip to his wife and daughter in South Africa where he owns a building. After he got the visa, he chose to go to Mauritius instead as he didn't want to spend his money in France. The Cameroonian's case is unique as many Africans denied Schengen visas rarely appeal or contest the decisions in court. Like Anyaegbu, the Nigerian gaming consultant, they often reapply, losing more money in the process. Mboulé has travelled several times to the UK and other African countries but was still denied twice for Schengen. 'The financial cost of rejected visas is just staggering; you can think of them as 'reverse remittances,' money flowing from poor to rich countries, which we never hear about,' the LAGO Collective's Foresti says. Schengen visa fees increased from 80 to 90 euros in July 2024, making it even more expensive for the world's poorest applicants. But South African management lecturer Sikhumbuzo Maisela said the visa rejection rates for Africans were lower than he expected. 'The visa vetting process seems to be shaped less by outright prejudice and more by historical patterns of behaviour,' he told CNN via email. 'Western countries have had instances where visa holders overstayed or violated terms, and this has influenced how future applications are scrutinized.' Though he hasn't conducted formal academic research on the issue, Maisela said Africans should treat visas as an act of trust and hospitality, and observe the rules. 'When one person violates these principles, it impacts all of us,' he said. 'It makes it harder for the next applicant — someone who may be fully compliant — to be granted the same opportunity. So, in a way, those who break the rules contribute to the very discrimination others face.' Younger Africans are the most vocal about visa rejections online but older applicants face similar barriers. Julius Musimeenta, a 57-year-old Ugandan engineer, applied for a visa to attend an engineering fair in Munich last year with his family. All six of them were rejected even though they had all previously traveled to Europe. 'Africans contribute a lot to funding these embassies through these rejections. They always think negatively about us travelling to their countries,' he told CNN. He has three grown-up children who are also engineers and the entire family has a long history of international travel so they were surprised by the blanket denial, he says. The European Commission said it does not comment on individual cases but EU law allows visa applicants to appeal negative decisions if they feel that the refusal was unjustified. 'The reasons for refusals vary, and include for example the submission of false or forged supporting documents such as bank statements or civil status documents, and weak socio-economic ties to the country of residence and hence a heightened risk of irregular migration,' it said. While Schengen visa rejections get the most attention due to the large number of countries, African applicants to the UK complain of similar access challenges. UK visa fees rose from £100 to £115 in July 2024 ($134 to $154) and then to £127 ($170) in April this year. There was a 13.5% spike in the cost of rejected visas to £50.7 million ($68.8 million) in 2024, the LAGO Collective estimates. Nigerians alone paid an extra £2 million trying to travel to their former colonial master, according to its calculations.
LBCI
17-05-2025
- Business
- LBCI
Lebanon's PM hopes for full lifting of Gulf travel and trade bans
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam expressed hope that all remaining Gulf countries will lift travel restrictions on their citizens visiting Lebanon. In a televised interview, Salam also voiced Lebanon's desire to see the ban on Lebanese exports to the Gulf lifted, stressing the importance of restoring full trade and diplomatic ties with the region.
