French lawmakers have pulled back from a plan that had unsettled thousands of Moroccan travelers hoping to visit Europe next year. During debate over the 2027 finance bill, the National Assembly rejected an amendment that would have pushed the price of a short-stay Schengen visa from 90 to 140 euros, with 67 votes against and only 36 in favor.
The amendment’s backers had pitched it as a revenue booster, proposing a flat 50-euro surcharge on tourist visas issued to nationals of non-EU countries, Morocco among them. Supporters estimated the surcharge could generate roughly 102 million euros a year for the French treasury once it took effect in 2027.
Opposition came from an unexpected pairing: the government itself and the finance committee that reviews such measures. Their reasoning was straightforward. Schengen visa fees are set under common European Union rules, and France cannot unilaterally raise them without risking friction with its EU partners and running afoul of the bloc’s shared visa policy.
For Moroccan applicants, the vote brings welcome certainty. The short-stay visa fee stays at 90 euros, on top of the roughly 258 dirhams in service charges collected by TLScontact, the outsourcing company that handles visa applications on behalf of French consulates in Morocco.
The episode is a reminder of how visa pricing sits at the intersection of national budget politics and European integration. French legislators looking to plug budget gaps keep eyeing immigration-linked fees, yet Brussels-level commitments limit how far any single member state can go on its own.
It also underscores how closely intertwined Morocco and France remain, through decades of migration, tourism, business travel and family ties that make the Schengen visa one of the most consequential administrative hurdles for Moroccan citizens. French consular authorities have given no indication of when, or whether, the fee question might resurface, but with immigration-related revenue still a politically charged topic in Paris, the debate is unlikely to be the last word.
