In December 2022, a Kenyan performer and DJ known as Coco EM could not make it to the Terra Sagrada festival in Cape Verde which she had been looking forward to for a year. She couldn’t even make it out of her country because, at the check-in counter in Kenya, she was told she could not board her flight unless she bought a return ticket with the same airline to prove she would return home after the festival, meanwhile, she already had a return ticket with another airline. This is only one of the thousands of stories that portray how Africans are faced with unfair travel restrictions to the US and Europe.

Earlier this year, Nigerian Afropop star Yemi Alade requested a Schengen visa but her request went unanswered. She was also denied a Canadian visa for the International Africa Nights festival. According to the co-founder of the festival, Suzanne Rousseau, the singer was denied due to financial reasons and fears that she would “not want to leave Canada”. And this is someone who has several world tours under her belt and is a celebrity. This means it doesn’t matter whether you are a high-profile individual attending an event of international standards, it’s all about your passport or more specifically your African passport.

Traveling to or transiting through Europe and the US has been difficult for Africans because most European countries consider Africans a risk and so to mitigate that risk they impose certain restrictions and require that Africans meet certain requirements before they even get onto their first flight. For instance, The Schengen countries that make up the EU’s ‘passport-free zone’, have agreed on a common short-stay visa regime that allows third-country nationals, Africans, to travel to any member of the Schengen Area for up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes. However, research has shown that the success rate of a Schengen visa application depends on the GDP per capita of the country where the application is lodged, meaning the poorer the country, the higher the rejection rate. In fact, the top three countries with the highest Schengen visa rejection rates are from the continent of Africa. Guinea-Bissau had 53% of its applications rejected, Senegal 52% and Nigeria 51%. To get a Schengen visa, you would need a host of documents including bank statements, return flights, addresses while abroad, and travel insurance policies. “The threshold gets higher and higher and changes so dramatically.

Sadly, African countries are in the bottom half of the global passport ranking, and with few exceptions, people from African countries need to obtain visas for more than 100 countries.

However, this is not the case when a European or an American travels to Africa. Most of them do not need to get a visa before coming because they can get a visa on arrival at a low cost because of how strong their passport is. They don’t have to show bank statements or prove they are employed. They don’t need proof of a return ticket. The process is seamless and easy. Why can’t it be the same for Africans? Why are Africans considered a risk?

One of the recurring reasons why Africans face difficulty in obtaining visas to Europe and the USA is that Europe does not want Africans to stay in their country. One Nigerian writer Elnathan John, captures this fact in a recent series of tweets. He says “A good African traveler is one who returns. One who leaves Europe or America quickly. The embassies love them. Good African doesn’t move.” He also added “It has become like a criminal act for an African to openly admit planning to move to another country,” “We are made to swear we won’t stay. When a European or American wants to move to ‘Africa,’ they don’t apologize. They say it with pride.” Why is this the case?

Africans with African passports are always met with a particular stereotype, one of suspicion and fear as if Africans have a contagious disease that would spread all over Europe if they step foot in the country. They are subjected to several unnecessary and humiliating situations all in a bid to get a visa at a high cost. And still, getting a visa is not even a guarantee that they would get into the country. They would still have to deal with immigration officers who would look at them suspiciously and ask them questions as if they are criminals.

The idea of visas is false and predicated on a power play that should not exist but unfortunately does and funds too many embassies and expatriates to stop.

Despite the difficulties, Africans continue to travel – and not just to the Northern Hemisphere. While major push factors like a lack of economic opportunity drive frantic mass migration, Africans on the continent are growing, learning, and celebrating themselves. Regional integration and local interchange of ideas and resources have fostered the shift in discourse that lifts the West off a pedestal. Africa’s creative energy is cultivating a crucial path forward, and despite the obstacles, young people on the continent are grasping more chances across borders.