EU restricts Somali visas in dispute over migrant returns
The measures lengthen visa processing and end multiple-entry visas as Somalia says Europe must verify returnees are Somali citizens.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
The European Union has tightened visa rules for Somali citizens after concluding that Somalia has not cooperated enough on taking back nationals denied the right to stay in Europe. The move raises pressure on Mogadishu in a dispute over how European governments identify and return migrants.
EU member states approved the restrictions on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported. The measures follow a European Commission assessment that found Somalia’s cooperation on readmission was inadequate.
Under the new rules, EU countries can no longer issue multiple-entry visas to Somali applicants, according to Al Jazeera. The bloc has also removed a fee waiver for holders of Somali diplomatic passports and extended the standard visa processing period from 15 days to 45 days.
The restrictions do not have a set end date, Al Jazeera reported. The EU is using them to push Somalia to work more closely with European governments on returns.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud rejected the suggestion that his government was refusing its own citizens. Speaking at an Independence Day event on Thursday, he said Somalia would accept people who are confirmed to be Somali, while raising doubts about some deportation cases.
Mohamud said his government had “questions about how those people would be returned” and argued that some people sent to Somalia from Europe were not Somali nationals. He said people from across the Horn of Africa can have similar appearances and that some asylum seekers in Europe claim to be Somali when they are not.
The president said there had been earlier cases in which people returned as Somalis did not speak the Somali language. If returnees are Somali, Mogadishu will receive them, Mohamud said; if they are not, he said Somalia would help identify their country of origin.
Mohamud also said Somalia’s prime minister regularly handled such cases and that Somali embassies had been directed to assist citizens who want or need to return, according to Al Jazeera.
EU migration commissioner Magnus Brunner said countries of origin must meet their obligations on returns and warned that failure to do so could bring consequences, Al Jazeera reported.
The visa curbs place Somalia among a small group of countries that have faced this type of EU action. The bloc imposed similar measures on The Gambia in 2021 and Ethiopia in 2024, then lifted the Ethiopian restrictions in May after deciding cooperation had improved, according to Al Jazeera.
The dispute comes against the backdrop of long-running Somali migration to Europe. Al Jazeera reported that Somalia is still recovering from the 1991 collapse of its central government and the civil war that followed, while the al-Qaeda-linked armed group al-Shabab has carried out deadly attacks since 2006.
Those pressures have led many young Somalis to try to reach Europe, often through Libya, where migrants have faced detention, extortion and violence, Al Jazeera reported.
The EU action adds to travel limits affecting Somali nationals. The United States imposed a broad travel ban in 2025 after President Donald Trump returned to office, covering citizens of 12 countries, including Somalia, according to Al Jazeera.
That policy drew renewed attention this month when Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named Africa’s referee of the year in 2025, was denied entry to the United States and could not officiate at the World Cup despite holding a valid visa, Al Jazeera reported.
The EU is also tightening its broader migration policy, including plans for return centres outside the bloc and faster deportations for people refused permission to remain, according to Al Jazeera.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.