The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has warned third-country nationals, including Nigerians needing a Schengen visa that as of June 11, 2024, they will need to pay higher fees, to apply for one.

Nigerians are currently battling stagflation with the naira’s depreciation spiralling out of control despite several attempts by President Bola Tinubu’s government to rein in the freefall.

According to a statement of the ministry, as of June 11, the visa fee for adults filing a short-term visa application for Slovenia will be €90, instead of €80 as it has been so far, and €45, instead of €40, for children between six and 12 years old, SchengenNews reports.

“The European Commission adopted a decision to increase short-stay Schengen visa (visa type C) fees worldwide by 12 per cent. The increase will apply worldwide as of June 11, 2024. New Schengen visa fees will be €90 for adults and €45 for children aged 6 to below 12 years of age.” – Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia

In 2023, 737,715 Nigerian citizens applied for Schengen short visas, and 432,915 of these applications, representing 58 per cent, were approved.

If 737,715 Nigerians spend €59,017,200 on Schengen visa fees, and the same number of people apply after June 11, they will spend €66,099,264, which is €7,082,064 more.

The National Bureau of Statistics recorded Nigeria’s headline inflation rate at 33.69 percent in April. This is 0.49 percentage points higher than the 33.20 percent recorded in March 2024. It said that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in April 2024 was 11.47 per cent higher than in April 2023, which was 22.22 per cent.

A recent study revealed that Mr Tinubu’s economic reforms are gradually forcing many Nigerians studying abroad to abandon their education. 

The data released by Studyportals, an Eindhoven-based company, showed that Nigerian students’ interest in studying abroad rose dramatically between 2021 and 2023 but began dropping, with a significant decline noticeable at the end of last year and through the first months of 2024.

In 2023, Schengen countries denied visas to 304,800 Nigerians, resulting in a financial loss of €24,384,000. If the same number of visas are denied in 2024, Nigerians will lose an estimated €27,310,080 in fees.

Furthermore, nationals of countries that have not cooperated on the readmission of their nationals irregularly staying in the EU will pay a visa fee of €135 or €180, depending on the Council’s decision.

The European Union’s Commission has not announced the date of the increase yet but is expected to publish the change in its Official Journal by the end of this week.

The decision comes after the EU revealed that the number of visas issued in 2023 increased by 36.3 per cent compared to 2022, though it remains down by 39 per cent compared to 2019 when the Schengen states received 16 million applications.