New Reports on Visa Denials for African Applicants Highlight Disparities

On July 8, 2024, a report from Shorelight and the President’s Alliance on Higher Education was released providing data on trends in U.S. student visa applications and denials from 2015 to 2022.  According to the data in this report, with the exception of four countries in southern Africa, visa denial rates for African applicants have been increasing since 2015, when Africa had a visa denial rate of 44 percent compared to denial rates of 30, 8, and 7 percent for Asia, Europe, and South America, respectively.  These disproportionate results are echoed in a July 28th  report from international news outlet Semafor, although they property submit the lowest number of applications, African students are rejected at a rate of 30 percent in Europes Schengen area as well.