As part of its research seminar series, the African Leadership Centre (ALC) is hosting a seminar on 'The inequality of European visa regimes: the implications for Africans' by Marta Foresti and Dr Federica Fragapane.

The discussion will be chaired by Professor Eka Ikpe, Director of the African Leadership Centre at King's. Achieng Akena, Human rights and democracy practitioner will also take part in the discussion.  

Note: This is a hybrid event. You can choose to attend online or in-person. 

Abstract

Visa regimes are deeply unequal, and African applicants are disproportionately affected by the staggering and unjust costs that they are forced to bear. The rejection rates for temporary visas for some of Africa’s largest economies, such as Nigeria and Ghana, are 40% or higher. Overall, the data we have analysed suggests that the lower a country’s GDP, the higher the European visa rejection rate for its citizens. Each year, European visa rejections cost €130M in non-refundable fees, with citizens of African and Asian countries being the worst affected. This is a ‘reverse remittance’ that we rarely hear about. Visa inequality is an often-untold story hidden under headlines of ‘mass migration’ in most mainstream media.

In this seminar, Marta Foresti, Founder and CEO of LAGO Collective and Visiting Senior Fellow at ODI Global, and award-winning Information Designer Federica Fragapane will discuss their work unveiling, monitoring, and analysing the data on visa applications to Schengen and the UK, the resulting costs and how they affect applicants from different regions, as well as their innovative approach to data visualization and storytelling through lived experiences of those directly affected by visa inequality. Achieng Akena will offer reflections on how these findings interact with ideas on the movement of people, focusing on Africans.

About the speakers

Marta Foresti is Founder and CEO of LAGO Collective and Visiting Senior Fellow at ODI Global.

Dr Federica Fragapane is an independent Information Designer.

About the seminar series

Our research seminar series explores new frontiers in research and development in peace and security. We bring together interests and expertise from the various research groups in the African Leadership Centre.