Report: Visa Rejections Stalling Health Research in Nigeria, Other African Countries

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja 

Visa delays and denials are keeping researchers from Nigeria and other African countries from participating in conferences and meetings in the global north, including those crucial for Africa’s development. 

The development denies them opportunities for building research partnerships and means Africa’s needs are not represented.

Citing Local Action on Global Opportunities (LAGO), an organisation which analyses migration and visa issues, Nature Africa disclosed that African nations had higher rates of rejection for Schengen visas in 2022 and 2023 than any other region.

According to the report, nine out of the 12 countries with 40 per cent or more visa applicants rejected in 2023 are in Africa.

Of the 27 countries with rejection rates of 30 per cent or more, 18 are in Africa, and fewer than 10 African countries are included among the 50 who face a rejection rate of less than 10 per cent.

Similarly, the Royal Society2 found that the highest visa refusal rates for UK work visas were skewed towards the global south. 

“I have no doubt that the biggest bias among global north countries is against applicants from the Africa region,” said Madhukar Pai, Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University. 

The result of this, said Pai, is that Africans are least represented in global health organisations, boards, conferences and publications.

This challenge means that many African researchers are not able to participate in conferences that discuss issues of crucial importance to the continent. 

For instance, African researchers struggled to attend the International Aids Society (IAS) 24th International AIDS Conference, held in Canada in 2022 and the subsequent meeting in Germany in 2024 due to visa delays and denials. 

As AIDS is a priority on Africa’s health agenda, the IAS called for better access to visas.

According to the report, in 2023, many Nigerian scientists, for instance, missed the inaugural conference for the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) held at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Folusho Balogun, a research fellow at the Institute of Child Health at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan and a team of 10 Nigerian scientists missed the two-day event as their visas were not processed on time. 

Balogun was supposed to present the research project she was leading at the event but received her visa on the day the conference ended.

Similarly, Barnabas Alayande, a Nigerian surgeon at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, argued that the country of origin of a passport holder is a factor to the “humiliation” that African scientists experience while travelling, even after getting a visa. 

“My counterparts from the US usually pass through immigration with ease, while I must queue for long hours being questioned before I am allowed to go to my destination. Sometimes, my friends must make noise about it,” said Alayande. 

Having missed two global health conferences in the United States and Switzerland due to visa denial two years ago, Alayande said the impact can be detrimental to mental health.

Marie-Claire Wangari was a fifth-year medical student at the University of Nairobi in 2017 when her visa to Montenegro was rejected and she couldn’t attend the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. 

Six of her colleagues faced similar rejections and they had to miss the four-week gathering where medical students are exposed to global health issues, including research and clinical projects.

“All the students who applied for a visa from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were rejected,” said Wangari, who is now a global health practitioner and a human rights committee member at the Kenya Medical Association.

Applicants who were from Uganda and Tanzania also incurred extra travelling costs as they had to travel to the nearest consulate in Nairobi to apply for the visas. 

In 2024, all her Kenyan colleagues who applied for the same forum held in August in Finland were also rejected, despite applying six weeks in advance.

While visa denials for Africans are common in the global north, they also happen in Africa. 

Africa Visa Openness Index3 gave African countries collectively a score of 0.479 out of 1 in how open the countries are to visitors from other African countries.

 The index measures the ease with which travellers can obtain visas; this may include the availability of e-visas, for instance, or visas given upon arrival.

Scientists are increasingly calling for conference organisers to host their meetings in visa-friendly countries. 

The IAS’s Conference on HIV Science will take place in Kigali, Rwanda next year, while the 26th International AIDS Conference will be hosted in Latin America and the Caribbean. Rwanda ranks first on the Africa Visa Openness Index. 

The 2025 congress of the International Health Economics Association has been relocated from Canada to Bali, Indonesia due to concerns over restrictive visa policies in Canada that would limit the participation of delegates from the global south.

Pai said that while hosting meetings in more visa-friendly locations may not entirely address the global health imbalance, it is a step towards change. 

The growing wave of anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiments in North America and Europe will worsen visa inequities in future, Pai stated.

Experts therefore called for visa equity to boost participation of scientists from the global south.

“We really need to rethink visa inequities. They can make or break global health,” said Alayande.