EU restricts Schengen visas for Somali nationals over migrant returns

The European Union tightened Schengen visa rules for Somali nationals after concluding that Mogadishu was not cooperating enough on the return of migrants who are in Europe without legal status. The Council of the European Union adopted the temporary measure on June 25, 2026, and it has no fixed end date.

Under the new rules, Somali nationals can no longer receive multiple-entry Schengen visas. Member states also can no longer waive certain supporting-document requirements, the standard processing time has been extended from 15 calendar days to 45, and fee waivers for holders of Somali diplomatic and service passports have been suspended. The legal basis is Article 25a of the EU Visa Code, which ties visa policy to readmission cooperation after a European Commission assessment found Somalia’s cooperation insufficient.

The cost of that pressure will be borne far beyond the deportation file in Brussels. Students, families, officials and business travelers from Somalia now face longer waits, fewer entry options and tighter document checks for travel to Europe, including trips that have nothing to do with migration enforcement. The policy targets mobility itself, using access to Schengen travel as leverage in a dispute over whether Somalia will accept back nationals identified in the EU as staying irregularly.

The move landed only weeks after the EU and Somalia held their first partnership dialogue in Mogadishu on May 10, 2026. At that meeting, the two sides agreed to continue technical talks on returns and readmission. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Somalia would readmit genuine nationals, but he insisted Europe should first verify the identities of deportees. That exchange showed the core dispute: not whether returns should happen, but who carries the burden of proving nationality and managing forced removals.

The visa restriction also came against a sharper migration backdrop. EU ministers were briefed in early June that irregular arrivals of Somali nationals in the bloc more than doubled between 2024 and 2025, adding urgency in Brussels as the issue moved from internal migration policy into foreign policy. Italy abstained when the Council voted, a reminder that even inside the bloc there was no full consensus on using visas as a coercive tool.

The EU has used the tactic before. Similar visa leverage was applied to The Gambia in 2021 and to Ethiopia in 2024, and the Ethiopia restrictions were lifted in late May 2026 after cooperation improved substantially. The Commission will keep assessing Somalia’s progress, leaving the suspension as an open-ended warning that access to Europe can be tightened until readmission cooperation changes.