State-bound Visa Policies and Europeanized Practices. Comparing EU Visa Policy Implementation in Morocco

ABSTRACT

This contribution focuses on the European border viewed from its margins: from the perspective of the western Mediterranean, specifically Morocco, the furthest western country of the area whose name, al-Maghrib, actually means “the west” in Arabic. It does so by tackling the bureaucratic enactment of the European border that is achieved by implementing EU visa policy. By delivering Schengen visa, bordering already occurs at consular windows in countries of departure. Hence I conceptualize visa policy as bordering policy and visa policy implementation as bordering practice. This article sheds ethnographic light on the making of EU visa policy on the ground by comparing the consulates of Belgium, France, and Italy in Casablanca. It argues that EU visa policy on the ground is state-bound. The analysis highlights visa policy as context-oriented: the means of implementing control must be tailored to its specific context. It shows the historical roots of the bi-lateral relations as factors differentiating this context. The article shows that Moroccan applicants learn cross-national differences and cope with shifting visa policies on the ground. Fieldwork exposes the strategic choices of consulates as an elite practice as well, and cross-national differences that encourage such practices. This empirically sound analysis criticizes the notion that Europeanization of visa policy implies diminishing cross-national differences in the day-to-day implementation and reveals instead Europeanized practices like those of coping with Schengen’s Europe.

Notes

1 Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 (OJ L 81/1 of 21 March 2001); Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visa (OJ L 164/2 of 14 July 1995); Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code, OJ L 105 of 13 April 2006); Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code). (OJ L 243/1 of 15 September 2009).

2 Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code). (OJ L 243/1 of 15 September 2009).

3 Handbook for the processing of visa applications and the modification of issued visas. Commission Decision, 19 March 2010, C (2010) 1620 final. Commission Decision of 11 June 2010 establishing the ‘Handbook for the organisation of visa sections and local Schengen cooperation’. C(2010)3667 final.

4 Agreement between the European Union and the Federative Republic of Brazil on short-stay visa waiver for holders of diplomatic, service or official passports (OJ L 66/2 of 12 March 2011)

5 http://www.diplomatie.be/casablanca/default.asp?id=99&mnu=99 (accessed 7 October 2014).

6 http://countries.diplomatie.belgium.be/fr/cameroun/venir_en_belgique/visa_pour_belgique/ (accessed 10 October 2012).

7 http://www.ambafrance-sn.org/Visas-court-sejour-VCS (accessed 10 October 2012).

8 As a former student of an Italian university, I participated in a three-month traineeship in the visa section in Casablanca. Everyone was aware of the subject of my PhD and the research interest explaining my application for the traineeship.

9 Decreto interministeriale n. 850 dell’11 maggio 2011. http://www.esteri.it/mae/normative/Normativa_Consolare/Visti/Decreto_Interministeriale_850_11-5-2011.pdf.

10 European Commission Directorate-General Home Affairs, Directorate B: Immigration and asylum, Unit B.3: Visa Policy: Overview of Schengen Visa Statistics 2009–2011.

11 Source: the consulate of Belgium, France, and Italy in Casablanca.

12 Source: consulate of Italy in Casablanca

13 The Testo unico delle disposizioni concernenti la disciplina dell'immigrazione e norme sulla condizione dello straniero (Dlgs 286/1998) allows the family reunification for parents under the conditions that they do not have other children taking care of them. In Morocco, parents are entitled to family reunification visas provided that they can prove that they do not have other children in Morocco.

14 Interview with a Belgian officer who has worked for the visa Benelux office.

15 Parents of third-country national permanent residents in Italy are entitled to Family Reunification provided that they prove they do not have another son or daughter in their country of origin.

16 Visabel is the name of the private visa application center run by the Indian multinational VFSGlobal, world leader in the sector of providing visa services, which cooperate with the consulate of Belgium in Casablanca.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS).