Brussels, Belgium — European Union ministers have moved towards tighter visa restrictions for Somali nationals, accusing Mogadishu of failing to cooperate on the return of citizens with no right to remain in Europe.
Home affairs ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday said the number of Somali nationals arriving irregularly in the EU had more than doubled between 2024 and 2025, with smuggling networks facilitating many of the journeys.
The Council of the EU said ministers had focused on what it called Somalia’s “inadequate cooperation” on the readmission of its citizens and had given guidance on proposed restrictive visa measures.
“They also discussed how the EU could strengthen its response to migrant smuggling networks, both in Somalia and in transit countries,” the Council said after the meeting.
The Council did not announce a final decision or spell out the exact measures under consideration.
But the move builds on a European Commission proposal first tabled in 2024 that would temporarily suspend some visa facilitation rules for Somali nationals under the EU Visa Code.
Under that proposal, Somali applicants would face a standard processing time of 45 days instead of 15, have to submit a full set of supporting documents with every application and, in principle, receive only single-entry visas.
The proposal would also suspend the optional visa fee waiver for holders of Somali diplomatic and service passports.
Visa leverage
The debate comes as the EU prepares to implement its new Pact on Migration and Asylum on June 12, part of a broader effort to speed up asylum procedures, strengthen border management and increase returns.
Cyprus, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has made migration a central priority.
“On 12 June, the EU turns a new page in migration management,” Cyprus Deputy Minister for Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides said.
He said the pact would strengthen the bloc’s ability to manage external borders and provide “more efficient migration and asylum procedures”.
Ioannides has also called for a “holistic approach” to cooperation with third countries, while warning that the EU must use “all the tools at our disposal, including restrictive visa measures” when countries refuse to cooperate on repatriation and readmission.
The EU’s first Visa Strategy, adopted in January, also gives Brussels a stronger framework to use visa policy as leverage in foreign and security policy, including through targeted restrictions against third countries.
For Somalia, the dispute comes at a sensitive moment.
Mogadishu and the EU agreed last month to hold further technical talks on returns and readmission after the first EU-Somalia Partnership Dialogue in Mogadishu under the Samoa Agreement.
Those talks covered security, migration, the rule of law, and economic cooperation, and aimed to identify obstacles to returns and to improve coordination.
The Somali government did not issue an immediate public response after Thursday’s Council discussion.
Crisis at home
The EU push has also revived questions over how far European return policy can go when it targets a country still facing armed conflict, political fragility and mass displacement.
Somalia has battled Al-Shabaab for nearly two decades, while climate shocks, drought, floods and disease outbreaks have repeatedly pushed communities into crisis.
The United Nations says 4.8 million people in Somalia need humanitarian assistance in 2026, a lower figure than last year only because of stricter targeting, not because conditions have improved.
The EU allocated 63 million euros in humanitarian aid to Somalia in 2026, after providing nearly 68 million euros the previous year.
But Brussels is also pressing Somalia harder on migration, reflecting a wider European shift towards linking visas, aid, trade and diplomacy to cooperation on returns.
EU officials argue that readmission is a basic obligation of states and that irregular migration routes expose people to smugglers, exploitation and dangerous journeys.
Rights groups and migration advocates say punitive visa measures often hit students, business travellers and families more than governments, while doing little to address the conflict and poverty that drive people to leave.
For Somali nationals, the measures would add another layer to an already difficult travel regime.
The Commission’s 2024 proposal noted that no EU member state is present in Somalia to issue visas, while several member states do not recognise Somali travel documents or recognise them only for diplomatic and service passports.
That means many Somali applicants must already travel abroad to apply for Schengen visas.
If the new restrictions move forward, the process could become slower, more expensive and more limited, even as Somalia and the EU continue to describe each other as partners in security, development and migration management.