The Italian Embassy in Algeria is planning to make it easier for Algerians to apply for a Schengen visa and get one.

The decision has been announced to the media by a communication officer of the Italian Embassy in Algiers while speaking on the sidelines of the embassy’s Monday activities. According to this officer, the decision has been taken due to the excellent economic trade and relations between the two countries.

Though the officer did not specify in what teams Italy would facilitate getting a visa for Algerians applying, Schengen Visa Info learns that one of the ways would be by outsourcing visa application admission to third party companies.

The embassy is already considering VMS Visa Management Service and the TLS Group as two possible services who may win the visa application outsourcing tender, as the only two out of four companies meeting the embassy’s requirements.

According to recent Schengen statistics, in 2018, 23,464 Schengen visa applications were filed at the Italian embassy in Algeria by Algerian passport holders, 9,185 of which were rejected.

The number is quite low given that Algeria was listed as the fifth world country with most Schengen visa applications filed – a total of 710,644 applications. The country had at the same time one of the highest rejection rates. 45.5% of all applications filed at the Schengen consulates by Algerian passport holders were turned down.

France remains a top favorite for Algerians, with 544,585 of the overall applications in Algeria filed at the two French consulates in Algiers and the one in Annaba. Moreover, the Consulate in Algiers was the world’s sixth busiest Schengen consulate in 2018. Yet 45.8% of the 269,977 applications it received were turned down.

In fact, three French consulates in Algeria had the highest number of visa rejection, with the one in Algiers leading with 123,565 uniform visas rejected. The consulate in Oran, on the other hand, rejected 75,742 applications and the one in Annaba denied another 65,836 Schengen visa applications to France.