Spain Requires Central Africans to Obtain Transit Visa

Central African Republic passport holders who wish to cross through Spain will need to apply for a transit visa.

Sources from the Spanish Interior Ministry claim that this decision was made in response to allegations that citizens of Central Africa were abusing the transit system in Spanish airports to enter the country illegally and use it as a pretext to seek for asylum.

In June of last year, Spain passed a similar law requiring transit permits for visitors from Sudan, Chad, and eventually Kenya and Senegal.

Holders of a transit visa are permitted to travel through Spanish airports but are not permitted to enter the country itself. The required paperwork must also be submitted to the Spanish consulate or embassy in the Central African Republic in order to apply for this kind of Schengen visa.

Organizations in Spain Did Not Approve of the Measure

The government’s move was criticized on social media by the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), which claimed that it further barred people fleeing conflict-ridden areas from accessing international protection.

The group continued by stating that “a persistent humanitarian crisis” is having an adverse effect on the people of the Central African Republic. CEAR claims that these policies prioritize control over human rights in order to manage migration.

Between January and June, 16 examples of irregular detections that originated in the Central African Republic were made in EU territory, according to data from Frontex, the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency. Nine of them were found to have entered by the Central Mediterranean route, five more through the Western African route, and two through the Eastern Borders.

The List of African Nations Enforcing Spain Transit Visas Is Continually Growing

As of August 16, in order to enter any EU airport, citizens of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia must get a transit visa.

Passport holders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are subject to the same regulation.

According to Infobae, the following list of African nations’ nationals requires a transit visa into Spain:

• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Chad
• Ivory Coast
• Djibouti
• Gambia
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Kenya
• Liberia
• Mali
• Republic of the Congo
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Sudan
• Togo

Other nations included in this list are Palestine, Yemen, Tajikistan, India, Cuba, Haiti, Syria, and Turkey.